"Abstract: This paper is a reworking of a paper presented at the British Gestalt Conference, Cambridge, July 1993. I present some of the ideas of Christopher Lasch (who died on St. Valentine's Day this year) and discuss their relevance to the practice of psychotherapy in our culture. I also explore how aspects of the values psychotherapists have espoused have contributed to the build-up of this culture and the narcissitic personality of our times. Key words: Narcissism, relational self, image vs. reality, culture."