Review of Psychoanalytic approaches to addiction.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic approaches to addiction edited by Angela Smaldino (see record 1991-98128-000). Contrary to what one might read into its title, the book is only partially about alcohol and other drugs AOD addiction. Three of its seven chapters address other types of addiction: destructive relationships, love, and food. The implication is that similarities among the various addictions will serve to illustrate a common unconscious motivation of "the addictive personality" revealed by psychoanalysis. Nowhere in the book, however, is this explicitly stated. The chapters are as the beads of an unlinked chain. They are as a series of associations in a patient's stream of consciousness, each one rich in detail, captivating, and insightful, but as yet without the analyst's interpretation as to how they are linked. The daunting task of that interpretation is left to the reader. This book is a valiant effort to move the psychoanalytic field in the direction of accommodating to the needs of an important patient population. It is not a primer to be taken as a directive, but a useful tool that the more sophisticated reader may employ as an impetus to stimulate further thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic treatment: An intersubjective approach.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic treatment: An intersubjective approach by Robert D. Stolorow, Bernard Brandchaft, and George E. Atwood (see record 1987-98240-000). This is an extremely interesting and well-argued book that, with its carefully chosen clinical cases, appears to demonstrate the value of the intersubjective approach and the integrative power of Kohut's ideas. However, in doing so it raises some fundamental issues in the study and understanding of psychoanalysis both as a theory and as a therapy, and it is these that the reviewer wants to examine in this review. These issues concern the relation of hermeneutics, science, and the scientific method to the practice, theory, and understanding of psychoanalysis. The reviewer argues that Stolorow and colleagues fail to present a hermeneutic case because psychoanalytic therapy goes beyond such confines, and they certainly make no scientific case for their claims. Their books falls uneasily between science and hermeneutics. Nevertheless, if we apply hermeneutic criteria to their case studies as they would wish, the reviewer thinks it is fair to say that they tell a convincing story and one that suggests that the intersubjective approach is, indeed, a useful one meriting considerable further study. What is needed is something that is truly difficult, to develop a scientific approach to a subjective world. If this could be done, then real progress could be made in the development of psychoanalytic ideas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic Interpretation in Rorschach Testing by Roy Schafer (1954). This is one of the very few books on psychological testing addressed to the advanced worker. Many have been the books on Rorschach for novitiates, detailing how to administer and score the test; few have been the books on how also to interpret the results; and almost nonexistent have been the books dedicated to content analysis of the Rorschach. This is such a book. Additionally it is, to the best of this reviewer's knowledge, the first book that explicitly attempts to root the entire test firmly in a given personality theory, in this case the neo-analytic ego theory of the Freudian school. This book officially initiates a new trend in Rorschach interpretation, a trend that is heavily indebted to E. Schachtel. Schachtel demonstrated how the test could be utilized to ascertain the individual's attitude toward the test, the examiner, the entire test situation, and even to his own responses toward the inkblots, and how, from this information, the personality structure of the individual could be deduced. Taking his cue from Schachtel, but attempting to go beyond it, Schafer stresses content interpretation to the extent of eliminating most of the usual considerations of scores, percentages, and the like--not that such scores are completely unimportant, Schafer is careful to point out, but because he wishes to demonstrate how much may be achieved without them. Clearly, his book starts, not where other books leave off, but where other books have yet to probe. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Parenting Assessments in Child Welfare Cases: A Practical Guide.

In this article the author provides a review of the book by Terry Pezzot-Pearce and John Pearce. The author states that this book sets out to fulfil four major goals: 1) presenting a model for comprehensive parenting assessments; 2) setting out the practical steps to be taken in such assessments; 3) identifying potential errors in carrying out assessments; and 4) providing critical considerations, identified by the authors as "practice alerts." The reviewer believes these goals are fulfilled in exhaustive fashion, thus providing a comprehensive text for those called upon to make such complex judgments. In fact, the reviewer suggests that the book could be titled a practical and theoretical guide for parenting assessments in child welfare and in consideration of custody and access decision-making. A refrain throughout the book is the reminder that the central question in parenting assessments is: Can this parent meet the needs of this particular child? Once this is understood then the complexity of the work becomes apparent. The author presents strengths, weaknesses, and a summary of the book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man.

Review of book: Jack Drescher (Au.) Psychoanalytic Therapy and the Gay Man. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press, 1998, 373 pp. Reviewed by Kenneth Lewes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic participation: Action, interaction, and integration.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic participation: Action, interaction, and integration by Kenneth A. Frank (see record 1999-04095-000). Frank's book is an extremely timely, well-written, and scholarly book that integrates the recent developments within the two-person, relational perspective in contemporary psychoanalysis with an active, pragmatic approach that includes many cognitive and behavioral technical innovations. This book initially appears to be directed toward a psychoanalytic audience that is on the cusp of appreciating an expanding repertoire of active, cognitive, and behavioral approaches. However, Frank's presentation is so comprehensive and thoughtful that the book is also an excellent text for nonpsychoanalytic therapists (and students) to develop an understanding of the contemporary two-person, relational approaches to psychotherapy. Frank presents a deeply integrative approach that appears to be guided by a particular set of values that emphasize both a commitment to a pragmatic approach of helping patients reach their life goals and the therapist's self-understanding of the complexity, the interpersonal impact, and the meaning of all therapeutic events and interventions on both participants. This is an excellent book either for the psychoanalytic therapist who is ready to be more active and engaged with patients or for the cognitive and behavioral therapist who is ready to integrate a more dynamic, two-person approach to the transference-countertransference relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic group theory and therapy: Essays in honor of Saul Scheidlinger.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic group theory and therapy: Essays in honor of Saul Scheidlinger (American Group Psychotherapy Association Monograph 7) edited by Saul Tuttman (1991). This book, which consists of original articles and is dedicated to Saul Scheidlinger and edited by Saul Tuttman, will be of great interest to the practicing analytic group therapist. It can also provide the individual analyst with an excellent overview of the current thinking of some of the leading figures in psychodynamic group therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Self-Relations in the Psychotherapy Process.

Reviews the book, Self-Relations in the Psychotherapy Process by J. Christopher Muran (see record 2000-16556-000). The self is alive and well and living in psychology, at least if the contributors to J. Christopher Muran's stimulating volume, Self-Relations in the Psychotherapy Process, are to be taken seriously. The self is a central construct in psychoanalytic, humanistic, and cognitive-behavioral theories, but nowadays even some radical behaviorists find the self to be an important concept. Thus, the present is a propitious time for a book that presents the major theoretical approaches to the self in psychotherapy and, fortunately for us, Muran, by gathering the views of leading psychodynamic, humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, and radical behavioral thinkers, has assembled a volume of almost uniformly high quality. Inspired by postmodernism, especially by the growing popularity of dialogic and perspectival epistemologies, Muran has a constructed this book as a set of six dialogues among contributors of varying theoretical persuasions, and although I doubt that dialogic and perspectival epistemologies are necessarily postmodern, I nevertheless find that this volume's dialogic structure makes for interesting reading and adds to its intellectual contributions. Because Muran's contention, with which I agree, is that the self is not an isolated entity but rather part of a relational matrix, it is perhaps necessary for this book to be structured dialogically. Whether postmodern or not, this book is an important one, one that conveys a great deal about what it means to be human as we enter the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The imposition of gender: Psychoanalytic encounters with genital atypicality.

The experience of intersexed people has been explored in only a handful of psychoanalytic reports, none of which examine the effects of the medical treatment that is central to their early history. This article presents the case of a woman who feared she was intersexed. The dynamics, transference, and countertransference configurations reenact the empathic failure implicit in her medical treatment and her family life, namely a caretaker's preoccupation with the patient's unusual anatomy, rather than her trauma. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalytic Psychology: An argument for change in editorial policy.

In an Editorial Note (Psychoanalytic Psychology, 1989) the Editorial Board of Psychoanalytic Psychology invites comment on its proposal for an occasional section devoted to reports of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. This modification in editorial policy is welcome though it seems a very small advance in the direction of much needed change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Evidence-based Psychotherapy: Where Theory and Practice Meet.

Reviews the book, Evidence-based Psychotherapy: Where Theory and Practice Meet edited by Carol D. Goodheart, Alan E. Kazdin, and Robert J. Sternberg (see record 2006-02969-000). The distinguished editors and authors of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy: Where Theory and Practice Meet have created an intellectual atmosphere in the book that paves the way for generative development of evidence-based practice (EBP) in psychotherapy in the future. The book is organized into three sections: 1) "The Practice Perspective," 2) "The Research Perspective," and 3) "Training, Policy, and Cautions." This book is an important addition to the debate on EBP in psychotherapy and highlights issues that extend well beyond the role of psychotherapy in EBP. It is highly recommended for practitioners and researchers alike and is likely to invite thoughtful questioning and reflection on core assumptions at both ends of the spectrum. Moreover, the book would serve as a useful primer on the issues germane to EBP in psychotherapy training for graduate students and psychiatric residents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Comprehensive Handbook of Psychotherapy: Vol. 1. Psychodynamic/Object Relations.

This initial volume is an introduction to a four-volume work. The text consists of 25 chapters, organized into six different sections. The first three sections address psychotherapy for three different age stratifications: children, adolescents, and adults. Sections IV and V address couples and family therapy, and group therapy, respectively. The closing section (VI) addresses "special topics," which turn out to include group interventions in therapeutic communities, cardiac patients, and ethnic and gender topics, as these have a bearing on transference in psychotherapy. This is followed by a closing summary of the entire volume by the editor. The reviewer recommends this volume to psychotherapists of all persuasions, who are interested in expanding their horizons and perhaps broadening the applicability of their other techniques and formulations to problems of human motivation, conflict and pathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Treatment Planning in Psychotherapy: Taking the Guesswork Out of Clinical Care.

Reviews the book by Woody et al (see record 2002-06426-000, which outlines a step-by-step simple method by which clinicians can plan and evaluate the course and outcome of therapy. The authors outline their rationale for their "Planning and Assessment in Clinical Care (PACC)" system. Differences in clinical practice between university and health care settings can be quite surprising and possibly overwhelming, especially for the new clinician. The book has a number of strong points that will likely aid not only the individual therapist interested in planning and evaluating the course and outcome of their therapy with clients and patients, but also should help to increase the research productivity of psychologists working in a variety of service settings. Benefits that clients and patients are likely to receive as a result of therapy that is complemented by thorough, yet simple, planning and evaluation strategy. The book is comprised of 7 easy-to-read chapters with a valuable appendix containing a number of well-validated assessment measures. The reviewer believes the book to be well-suited for graduate students as an introductory textbook for a course in psychotherapy planning and evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cocaine: A clinician's handbook.

Reviews the book, Cocaine: A clinician's handbook edited by Arnold M. Washton and Mark S. Gold (see record 1987-98183-000). Washton and Gold point out that the goal of this text is to provide "clinicians with information that is directly relevant to the treatment of cocaine abusers." I feel they accomplished their goal, by concentrating on various aspects of theory, research, and treatment of cocaine abuse. The book is divided into three major sections: Basic and Biomedical Issues, Treatment Approaches, and Special Topics. Overall, this text examines a range of topics. This book can be extremely valuable to physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors in the drug and alcohol fields, and students. The book is comprehensive in what it covers and well organized. Even experienced professionals in this field will be hard pressed to find flaws with this resource. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Connectionism: A Hands-On Approach.

Reviews the book, Connectionism: A Hands-On Approach by Michael R. W. Dawson (see record 2005-05691-000). This book is intended to be a practical introduction to connectionist models and neural networks. The book uses, as examples, simple connectionist models that have been studied over the years, with each chapter dedicated to a slightly more complex model or problem than the previous. The author also provides links to a web page where sample programs can be downloaded, allowing the reader to use these programs as they progress through the book. Although the book is well written, it falls short of its objective of being an introduction to connectionism. The book does not claim to be focused on connectionist theory, but its lack of a theoretical basis makes it difficult to follow. Throughout the book, there are references to another work by the author entitled Minds and Machines, which the reader can reference for the theoretical basis and background of connectionist models, and this may indicate the preferred use of the current book. This book falls short as a stand-alone text, but could make a decent workbook to supplement a theoretical text on connectionism. Those who are looking to expand into actually implementing these algorithms would be better served by packages such as PDP, SNNS, or even Matlab, but the book could still be useful to those who want to get a taste of how these algorithms work. The niche of this book seems to be for professors who want a "hands-on" supplement for their main text, but want to avoid too much depth on the math or implementation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognitive aging: A primer.

Reviews the book, Cognitive aging: A primer edited by Denise C. Park and Norbert Schwarz (see record 2000-07430-000). The objective of this edited book is to present a comprehensive overview of what is known about normal cognitive functioning in older adults. The book's 14 short chapters, all written by well-known experts in cognitive aging, are divided into four sections on basic mechanisms, attention and memory, language and speech, and applications. This book was intended as a textbook for teaching advanced undergraduate and beginning undergraduate students. Overall, this objective is reached by most contributions. While creatively updating knowledge in cognitive aging, it does a great job of identifying limitations and theoretical challenges and of pinpointing many exciting research questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Alcoholism: A bio-psycho-social approach.

Reviews the book, Alcoholism: A bio-psycho-social approach by Jerome David Levin (1990). This small volume sets its task as providing counseling students with a comprehensive knowledge base "summarizing biochemical, pharmacological, physiological, anthropological, sociological, epidemiological, historical, and psychological findings on alcohol and its use and abuse" (Preface, p. xi). It treats each of these, in varying degrees of depth, in seven chapters. Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is its thorough presentation of the medical consequences of alcoholism, the mechanisms involved, and the interplay between biological and psychological factors. Unfortunately, this volume does not provide sufficient coverage of treatment-related issues. It may serve as an introductory overview of the alcoholism field for undergraduate or graduate students, or professionals from other fields. It is too advanced, however, in its use of concepts and language, for paraprofessional students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Schools of Psychology: A Symposium.

Reviews the book, Schools of Psychology: A Symposium edited by David L. Krantz (1969). This volume contains five papers which were delivered at a symposium held on September 4, 1967 at the seventy-fifth anniversary meetings of the American Psychological Association. The participants and their topics were E. G. Boring (Titchener, Meaning and Behaviorism), Edna Heidbreder (Functionalism), R. J. Herrnstein (Behaviorism), Wolfgang Kohler (Gestalt psychology), and David Shakow (Psychoanalysis). In addition there is a discussion by Gardner Murphy and an additional paper, by the editor, on the Baldwin-Titchener controversy. An index is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Practitioner's Degree.

The author comments in a letter that he is asking all psychologists who are interested in the promotion or foundation of an American school or college of psychology which would offer the Doctor of Psychology degree, which would be a practitioner's degree, to send him postcards giving present educational and vocational status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)