Heinz Kohut's psychoanalytic theories led to a fierce controversy within psychoanalysis that continues to this day. In the 1960s, he rose to become an important institutional representative and was even referred to as "Mr. Psychoanalysis." However, when he developed his own theory of narcissism, he became a dissident in the eyes of the mainstream—someone who had departed from the foundations of classical theory. Ralph Butzer precisely traces Kohut's development from Freudian drive and metapsychology and explains important insights and theoretical developments that increasingly placed the construct of the self at the center of his thinking. In doing so, Kohut also pointed out aspects of the important and necessary role of parents as self-objects for health. He rehabilitated the concept of narcissism by proposing his own interpretation, distinct from the traditional views.