ABSTRACT
If one is to research the development of Heinz Kohut’s theories, one needs to understand that his studies commenced with a belief in classical Freudian analysis. Although Viennese, he taught a two-year course in the USA from 1958 to the late 1960s, during which he made a point of emphasising the evolving nature of theory building in psychoanalysis. He stressed this point partially because he believed that theory should evolve gradually and be added to by the ideas of new generations of thinkers, and partially as a defensive measure because he feared the disapproval of his colleagues and friends, whom he thought would baulk as his ideas began to diverge from classical Freudian concepts. His own notions about psychoanalysis were gradually introduced over the next couple of decades until his un timely death in 1981. At the time, many of his contemporaries in North American psychoanalysis adhered to Freudian principles with unwavering certainty, and most academic papers tended to begin with a citation to Freud in order to give the author a sense of legitimacy.
