The author summarizes Kohut's principal theories and their implications for understanding therapeutic action. He notes that Kohut's model of self development can be applied to both healthy and pathological outcomes, and that this model necessitates modifications in classical psychoanalytic technique. A discussion of some of the many variations within self psychology includes elaborations of Kohut's beliefs that have been contributed by more recent theorists. The author also discusses the centrality of affects in the formation of psychic structure and the implications for technique of this theoretical construct.