Self psychology and diagnostic assessment : identifying selfobject functions through psychological testing

The self psychology of Heinz Kohut has been an important force in contemporary psychoanalytic thought and as a result, its influence on treatment has been extensively explored.

Now, Marshall Silverstein offers the first analysis of the application of self psychology to projective diagnostic assessment.

Differentiating the self psychological approach from an ego psychological interpretation of classical drive theory, Silverstein clearly outlines the principal contributions of Kohut, including the concepts of self object functions, empathy, transmitting internalization, and compensatory structure.

Providing numerous clinical examples, the author shows how the major self object functions of mirroring, idealization and twinship can be identified on projective tests.