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Frank Lachmann is a self-psychologist who brings his scholarly voice to the seminal work of Heinz Kohut. In this volume he seeks to enlarge Kohut's contribution by taking it “from an era of theorizing in which one way influence models predominated, into a theory where transformation is bidirectional and co-created by therapist and patient” (p. 11). In the process, Lachmann makes a strong case for the inherently relational nature of therapeutic change, without departing from his self-psychological roots.
Lachmann evenhandedly integrates findings from the past three decades of systematic infant research with in-depth, psychoanalytic case studies, the specificity and individuality of which drive his unique and complex insights.
The author's direct and humorous voice is engaging from the start, and reflects the clinical approach he advocates. He anticipates, for instance, an understandable reaction to this book as “Oh, no! Not another book about narcissism” so that the reader feels understood. The truth is, however, that this book is about narcissism only in the broadest sense, that is, as one developmental substrate of the development of the self. Indeed, Lachmann aims to offer a perspective on development and treatment that picks up where Kohut's theory of narcissism leaves off.
The book's ostensible theme reflects Kohut's paper, “Forms and Transformations of Narcissism” (1966), in which he suggested that archaic narcissism is transformed either in the course of development, or through treatment into empathy, humor, creativity, an acceptance of transience, and wisdom (p. 257). As Lachmann's text proceeds, each of these traits is taken up in its turn, as the author considers what level of change might be expected in treatment, and how it might be reached. But there is a deeper, more inclusive argument going on at the same time, as Lachmann