Contemporary Jungians, notably Jacoby, but also Ledermann and Asper-Bruggisser, have perceived an affinity with Kohut's unique psychological approach. In reading Siegel's persuasive book, this reviewer was moved by the theoretical symmetry with Jungian concepts which self psychology appears to present — for example, the centrality of the self in the human psyche, and the self as a bipolar construct, generating an abiding flow of psychic activity.

Externally, another significant parallel between Jung and Kohut is that they suffered severe criticism from colleagues for their theoretical departures from Freud. In terms of their convictions and perhaps even their clinical observations, Jung and Kohut may overlap, but the wellsprings of their work are markedly different. What this book emphasizes is that not only did Kohut aim at an integration of Freudian theory with his own observations, at least initially, but also that his idiosyncratic stance in relation to classical theory grew organically out of a profound mastery of Freud's entire canon.