Heinz Kohut

Heinz Kohut (German: [ˈkoːhuːt]; 3 May 1913 – 8 October 1981) was an Austrian-American psychoanalyst best known for his development of self psychology, an influential school of thought within psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theory which helped transform the modern practice of analytic and dynamic treatment approaches.

Kohut was born on 3 May 1913, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to Felix Kohut and Else Kohut (née Lampl). He was the only child of the family. Kohut's parents were assimilated Jews living in Alsergrund, or the Ninth District, and they had married two years previously. His father was an aspiring concert pianist whose musical ambitions were hindered by the traumas he endured in World War I, and Felix moved into business with a man named Paul Bellak. Kohut's mother opened her own shop sometime after the war, something that few women would do at the time in Vienna. Else’s relationship with her son can be described as “narcissistic enmeshment”.

Kohut was not put into school until the fifth grade. Before that he was taught by several tutors, a line of “Fräuleins and mademoiselles”. Special care was taken that he learned French. From 1924 on he attended the Döblinger Gymnasium in Grinzing or the 19th District, where the Kohuts would build a house. During his time at the school he had one more tutor, but the role of this person was to engage him in educational discussions, to take him to museums, galleries, and the opera. This man was the first friend in his life. Before that he had been isolated from his peers by his mother.

At school a special emphasis was given to the Greek and Latin languages and Greek and Roman literature. Kohut also came to appreciate Goethe, Thomas Mann and Robert Musil.

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