Five Kohutian Postulates

As results from the present emphasis on short-term, technique-oriented psychotherapies or bio-therapy (medication) point to their valuable but limited roles in treating mental illness, this book emphasizes the need for extensive training in the treatment of self-disorders with developmental arrests using a long-term, empathy-based psychoanalytic psychotherapy approach. In addition to having a theory organized around the five postulates of Kohut, psychoanalytic psychotherapists need a professional commitment to patients and a significant experience of their own long-term, empathy-based training psychotherapy.