Hmm.

Thanks for the responses.

I don't really know how to spell these, but I'll have a go:
Cathexis
Imago (is that like an idea?)
Don't really know what those mean... Also, the book was about the narcissistic personality, but I'm thinking he meant that a whole heap more broadly than the DSM conception or probably even the traits mentioned in the DSM conception.

(So of course the million dollar question is 'how does this relate to me?)

He talks about idealising and mirroring / twinning for most of the book. He says it is unclear whether we should call these processes 'transferences' as he doesn't think the therapist becomes an OBJECT where feelings are transferred onto (or whatever) instead this is a PROCESS of the clients ego. Or something. Hard for me to understand some of this...

It is kinda interesting that he didn't get along with Rogers... I don't know much about Rogers variety of therapy... Maybe it was to do with Kohut's basic acceptance of Freud for so long...

I asked my therapist what kind of model he was used to working within (wasn't sure how to ask that). I know he does DBT in the community... Anyway he said 'self psychology' and I said I'd never heard of it. So I went away to have a look... He said it fits really well with DBT (focus on acceptance and empathy). But it would need to be supplimented a little... (with Putnam, I guess). I might ask him about these narcissistic processes next week lol. I'm not sure how much Kohut envisaged this being applicable to most people or how specific it is supposed to be to the treatment of narcissistic personality. I see he has written other stuff but apparantly that book has been the most influential.

He talks about object relations theories quite a bit... He seems very keen to distance his theory from object relations theories. I can't quite grasp the difference... Something about that object / process distinction or something. Dunno.

Idealisation and Mirror transference / twinning. Was Kohut really the first to talk about those? I've certainly heard of them but I never really understood twinning / Mirror transference before now. Something that I do though...

I was starting to wonder if my t was a bit of a crank because of how darned NICE he is... I'm glad I get a bit more of what he is trying to convey with that... The frustrations will come soon enough no doubt... I like it how Kohut says the therapist doesn't need to DO anything on that front, the frustrations will come all by themself.

I think he is being more careful to orient me to reality than he otherwise would be though. So I don't get lost in seeing him as a past abuser. Sometimes reality can be frustrating :-(

Oh well...