Self Psychology and Aggression — Reflections on Aversive Experience, Culture, and Building Developmental Capabilities

Abstract

ABSTRACT From the beginning, self psychology has been criticized for failing to adequately address aggression. This critique is explored beginning with Heinz Kohut’s position on aggression and then moving to discuss Joseph Lichtenberg’s proposals concerning aggression and aversiveness, the aversive motivational system. In a number of clinical vignettes, the process of developing new, adaptive developmental capacities in the aversive motivational system are described. Additionally, a focus on diversity, culture, and bias which spontaneously became activated between the analytic partners is included.