Progress in Self Psychology, V. 12 - Basic Ideas Reconsidered (Hardcover)

Volume 12 begins with reassessments of frustration and responsiveness, optimal and otherwise, by David S. MacIsaac, Howard A. Bacal and Peter G. Thomson, Morton and Estelle Shane, and Shelley R. Doctors. The philosophical dimension of self psychology is addressed by John H. Riker, who looks at Kohut's bipolar theory of the self, and Daniel Kriegman, who examines the subjectivism-objectivism dialectic in self psychology from the standpoint of evolutionary biology. Clinical studies focus on self- and mutual regulation in relation to therapeutic action (Frank M. Lachmann and Beatrice Beebe), countertransference and the curative process (Martin S. Livingston), and the consequences of the negative selfobject in early character formation (Mark J. Gehrie). A separate section of child studies includes a case study exemplifying a self-psychological approach to child therapy (Ruth Banovitz Suth) and an examination of pathological adaptation to childhood parent loss (George Hagman). With a concluding section of richly varied studies in applied self psychology--with contribuitons by Howard and Margart Baker, Joseph Palombo, Lallene J. Recortor, Janice Crawford, and Susann Pangerl--" Basic Ideas Reconsidered" is basic reading for all students of contemporary self psychology.