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The divergence between Kerberg and Kohut as regards the understanding and treatment of narcissistic personality disturbances (NPD), has appeared in the psychoanalytic literature for more than ten years. The aim of this paper is to describe the differences between the two authors as objectively as possible without trying to criticize their theories of different treatment approaches. The presented theory of the psychology of the self is mainly founded on Kohut's (1971) first book “The Analysis of the Self” where he still was devoted to the drive theory.
At the end of the paper, I will add some personal comments regarding the importance of the understanding of narcissistic phenomena arising in psychoanalytic education.
It was in his case history of Mr. Z. that Kohut (1979) documented his development from “classic analyst” to “analyst of the self”. He describes the course of two treatments, one from 1956-1960, the other from 1966-1970. In the first treatment Kohut used “classical technique” and in the second the new technique according to the theory of “the psychology of the self”. In Kohut's opinion, the first analysis was unsuccessful owing to the use of the wrong technique. The second analysis was successful owing to new theoretical “insight into the psychology of the self” which made it technically possible for him to gain “access to certain sectors of the personality that had not been reached in the first part of the treatment”.
The second analysis was started when Kohut wrote his article on