About the book: 2002 / This is the first major work of Heinz Kohut translated into Russian. The psychology of the self complements the traditional psychoanalytic approach. Its distinctive feature is close attention to the individual’s experience of his self-worth. Compared to the gloomy anthropology of Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein, the picture of human personality painted by Heinz Kohut and his followers looks more optimistic. Proponents of self psychology have convincingly argued that support, love, and acceptance are extremely important for the normal development of personality in children and adults and that psychoanalysts have been wrong about this issue in the past. The book is addressed primarily to psychotherapists and anyone interested in the problems of personality psychology.