In terms of clinical practice, few differences exist between Freud and Heinz Kohut in the conduct of psychoanalysis. Kohut's style of theorizing facilitates the use of his ideas by counseling psychologists for both research and practice. According to Kohut's theory, the self is the fundamental constituent of mind. Development of the self proceeds along three lines: grandiosity, alter ego, and idealization. A self-selfobject relation is a representation of self and other in which the other is experienced as a vital part of the self, as a structure which sustains the cohesion of the child and the adult self. Defects in the self can reside in the grandiose, alter ego, or idealizing self-selfobject relation. The relevance of Kohut's ideas for research in counseling psychology is evident in four studies: (1) development of 10 rating scales for one of the five dimensions of the multivariate model of counseling from the Utah Counseling Outcomes Project; (2) development of two 10-item self-report scales using the concept of grandiosity and idealization; (3) construction of three self-report scales using Kohut's concept of the self-selfobject relation; and (4) development of two self-report scales using concepts of grandiosity and idealization to study adolescent narcissism. While all the scales require further psychometric work, they suggest that Kohut's theory affords the researchers in counseling psychology a clinically relevant guide to the formulation of empirically answerable questions about counselors, clients, and the counseling process. (NB)