ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Freud-Jung relationship in the light of Kohut's self psychology. We believe that the Freud-Jung break was an unnecessary tragedy for the field of depth psychology and that much has been lost because of the continuation of misunderstandings and hostility that has been the legacy of their personal battle. The resulting cold war has been continued by their followers as though it were a personal quarrel or a family feud, as if duty or allegiance to the founder somehow required his adherents to continue his enmity. This situation has several roots. It has been partly the result of misunderstanding or simple ignorance of the actual work of these thinkers, partly the result of a tradition of prejudice fostered by training institutes, and partly because of Jung's alleged antisemitism, which has clouded debate about the technical differences between Freud and Jung. This split is worse in the United States than it is in Europe, where there is often contact between Jungians and Freudians. The authors, although trained primarily in the Jungian tradition, both value and utilize post-Freudian concepts in their work, especially those of psychoanalytic self psychology and British object relations theory. We find, however, that although there is widespread acceptance of these ideas in the Jungian community, the reverse is not true; most therapists trained
in the Freudian and post-Freudian traditions have little or no knowledge of Jungian concepts. For several reasons we believe that it is worth exploring the possibilities of reconciliation between these broad streams of analytic thought. Obviously, they are both here to stay, but unless we determine which theory best fits which clinical situation, rather than indulging in wholesale dismissal of the other school of thought, we do our patients a disservice and prevent potentially useful synthesis. If this appeal to scholarship and clinical usefulness is insufficient, it is also true that all analytic communities are under siege these days; perhaps our common enemythe cultural move toward the superficial-will finally force those of us who stress the importance of the unconscious to examine our commonalties, as well as our differences.
