The Applicability of Self Psychology to Psychotherapy with the Elderly: With Emphasis on Twinship Selfobject Needs and Empathy as a Mode of Observation

doi:10.4324/9780203780497-23

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The Applicability of Self Psychology to Psychotherapy with the Elderly: With Emphasis on Twinship Selfobject Needs and Empathy as a Mode of Observation

ABSTRACT

Although, in his last book, Heinz Kohut wrote, "Much remains to be done; we need investigations of the special selfobject needs of the elderly" (Kohut, 1984, p. 194), very few works have been published addressing the applicability of self psychology to the elderly. A noteworthy contribution to this small literature is Muslin's (1992) The Psychotherapy of the Elderly Self.