Recognition is a fundamental element of that form of therapeutic conversation necessary to the generation and re-generation of selfhood, self being defined here as James did (i.e., as a dynamic process in which a “doubling” can be abstractly discerned, consisting of a “knower” and “known”). We suggest that this doubleness, achieved in maturity, has its first form not as an intrapsychic experience but in the world, the second part being provided by the caregiver behaving in a characteristic way. Recognition is a word that only approximates the nature of this form of responsiveness, evoking a particular positive feeling out of which arises the sense of value.

The philosophical background to the role of recognition in the emergence of self is briefly considered. The myth of Narcissus is used to illustrate the idea that lack of suitable recognition, inevitably involving a loss of value, leads to fruitless and maladaptive searches for the feeling of value at the core of self.