Although the psychoanalytic theories of Heinz Kohut and Otto F. Kernberg have not explicitly focused on loneliness, they have the potential to offer a rich conceptualization of this experience in severe personality pathology. In this study, we attempt to illustrate and discuss the various qualities of loneliness in narcissistic, borderline, and other personality pathology, as implied in these theories. Kohut’s views on selfobjects are presented and the links between selfobjects and loneliness are highlighted. In this theory, loneliness may be regarded as grandiose isolation and object hunger may be viewed as a type of quasi, but not real loneliness. In Kernberg’s theory, emptiness seems to be the essence of loneliness, but it takes on different qualities in several personality disorders. Mature love is proposed as the opposite of loneliness. After identifying some points of convergence between Kohut and Kernberg regarding loneliness, we conclude with the view that real loneliness can be experienced only when genuine intimacy and mature dependence have been established.
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens School of Education Department of Pedagogy and Primary Education (+30) 210-3688089 Navarinou 13A (1st floor), 10680 Athens, Greece egalanaki@primedu.uoa.gr
