Non Omnis Moriar

Sometime in the 1970s Heinz Kohut gave up his teaching tasks at the Institute for Psychoanalysis and asked me to take over his class on self psychology. I remember that first class meeting very well because I felt very enthusiastic about the job, and I facetiously began by announcing that I was not Heinz Kohut. To my surprise and dismay one person got up and walked out. Although I later learned that the man actually was registered for another course, I have always recalled that moment whenever I have assumed the stand-in posture for my mentor. Over the years I have frequently navigated my way between what Kohut would say and what I might say, but my response to these reviews and critiques of this last book of his will clearly call for my trying to speak for Heinz Kohut. Actually this is not such a difficult job for me not only because it was a frequent request from Heinz as well as from others, but also because all of us who were associated with self psychology have felt very strongly that it must not be an orthodoxy and cannot be judged as the work of one man. Over the years there have been so many discussions about the work with such a plethora of exchanges of ideas, that I feel fairly sure that after Kohut's first book every succeeding publication contained ideas gathered from us all. Kohut was the originator and developer of self psychology, but he wanted nothing more than to see it continue to grow and develop on its own and ultimately without him. His last book is best seen as a progress