SELF-THEORY AND PSYCHOANALYSIS: THE EVOLUTION OF THE SELF-CONCEPT AND ITS USE IN THE CLINICAL THEORIES OF C. G. JUNG, D. W. WINNICOTT, AND HEINZ KOHUT

The self-concept plays a central role in contemporary psychoanalytic theory. However, it is formulated within the context of several paradigms and is attached to a variety of clinical approaches. Frequently it also functions side-by-side with an older proposition, the ego-concept. In order to establish common traits in the use of the concept, comparison of self-theories is an important step towards stabilizing the different uses and arriving at a possible synthesis. The self-concept also has a prominent place in social psychology and behavioral research. The psychoanalytic conception must be assumed to share traits with these formulations, but it is based on a different contextual situation, the interactions in the clinical setting. Within this context the concept defines and explains the origin, development, and dynamics of the self.; The study focuses on common analytical attitudes in three well-established psychoanalytic self-theories. It is a comparative study of the clinical formulations of C. G. Jung, D. W. Winnicott, and Heinz Kohut from a phenomenological and attitudinal point of view. Its aim is to propose particular empirical approaches to the verification and measurement of analytical attitudes as they emerge from the use of the self-concept.; The study provides an historical account of the self in various disciplines. Based on this analysis, a phenomenology is devised by which the various psychoanalytic notions are classified. The study also describes four clinical attitudes pertaining to the self-concept: (1) a psychodynamic attitude, (2) a teleological attitude, (3) an empathic attitude, and (4) a symbolic attitude.; The extensive comparison establishes similar or identical traits both in terms of the type of concept being used in the three self-theories and the resulting analytical attitudes. These traits are explained as based on personal experimentation extended to the clinical situation rather than common methodologies or techniques. The four resulting analytical attitudes are detailed and quantitative approaches for further study proposed.