Chapter 3: The Class at Allen Siegel’s Home

Since the inception of the course in 2007, we have met for a Saturday class and barbeque at Allen Siegel’s home in Winnetka. The students take the commuter train from downtown and then walk half a mile to Allen’s modernist style home, set in a lovely copse of trees. The living room, with its cathedral ceiling, is spacious enough to easily accommodate the class. Its interior is graced with award-winning model ships meticulously constructed by Allen. Although it is rare—almost forbidden—to have a Saturday class, the students have never complained because the event is so meaningful for them—a great discussion followed by a lively barbeque. The impetus for going to Allen’s house and for having a separate chapter on this class is that the students read Allen’s (1996) classic book Heinz Kohut and the Psychology of the Self, almost cover to cover. The class with Allen tends to be our final session on psychoanalytic self psychology and the students are encouraged to ask Allen any questions they have about his book or about self psychology. Allen is willing to become deeply personal about himself and his experiences with Kohut and with his own patients. He appears to birth empathy itself in his immediacy and connection with our students. What follows is first a statement by Allen about how he teaches the class, and then we include a sampling of the students’ questions to Allen and their accounts of Allen’s responses.