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Kohut's concluding remarks in his 1984 posthumously published work was a clear reminder that the central focus of self psychology was its attention to the development and analysis of the transferences: “Self psychology does not advocate a change in the essence of analytic technique. The transferences are allowed to unfold and their analysis—the understanding of the transference reactions, their explanation in dynamic and genetic terms—occupies, now as before, the center of the analyst's attention” (p. 208). Kohut has emphasized that it is through this process that the patient's arrested development can be set in motion and come to completion.
While Kohut has clearly demonstrated the significance of continued exploration and understanding selfobject transferences as the central focal point of treatment, there has been a number of recent self psychological treatment contributions that have shifted the emphasis away from the analysis and development of the selfobject transferences as the primary focus of treatment. This chapter examines four major conceptual shifts and their potential consequences on the understanding of the patient's selfobject needs and the development of the selfobject transferences.
Finally, I will present a brief summary of the progress that has been made in advancing the understanding of selfobject transferences.1