Review of Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies.

Reviews the book, Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies by Morton Chetkik (see record 2000-00388-000). Techniques of Child Therapy is not a manual of psychoanalytic theory applied to children but, as the subtitle indicates, it is a presentation to psychodynamic strategies for treating the impairment derived from the faulty development of any of four psychoanalytic constructs: phallic-oedipal, ego functioning, superego expansion, an affective difficulties. Four major sections compose the book: an introduction outlining the characteristics of the child and the general process of assessment, a section dedicated to guiding the parents, and the presentation of two case studies with an elaboration of the treatment process. Of the four sections, the ones devoted to treatment procedures may be the most illuminating to the readers new to psychodynamic theory. A laudable aspect of the book is its abundant and generous use of case studies. Each case is presented with an assessment, clinical material, and treatment techniques. The cases illustrate the assessed area and principles behind the treatment. But a significant challenge to the new therapist is explaining to a 6-year-old child the connection between, say aggressive behavior and oedipal wishes or fears. Parents who underwent psychoanalysis should be able to help. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies.

Reviews the book, Techniques of child therapy: Psychodynamic strategies by Morton Chethik (see record 1989-97537-000). This volume is addressed both to the advanced psychotherapy student and to the practitioner who is just beginning to work with children. It provides an orientation to the dynamic approach of assessing the young patient, of formulating a working model of the child's conflicts, and ways to gradually intervene in order to restore the normal developmental process. To furnish this orientation, discussions are included on the basics of play therapy, working with parents, fundamental tasks of treatment, conceptual frameworks for guiding interventions, distinctions between different forms of intervention, and differences in therapeutic strategy for working with various disorders ranging from situationally induced acting-out to character pathologies. Although it may seem overly ambitious for the author to explicate and integrate this amount of material within a book of this size, he has nonetheless succeeded in creating a cohesive and clinically useful body of knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Middle-class waifs. The psychodynamic treatment of affectively disturbed children.

Reviews the book, Middle-class waifs. The psychodynamic treatment of affectively disturbed children by Elaine V. Siegel (see record 1991-98014-000). Most of this book is devoted to case histories of children and their parents who have relatively severe emotional problems yet can be sufficiently responsive to psychotherapy so that positive changes occur. Particularly impressive are the ways in which the author, in her therapeutic role, overcomes the resistances presented by both children and parents. She is clearly an excellent therapist, who would probably be effective regardless of orientation, and her manner of working with people has applicability for all psychotherapists. Her appreciation of the necessary balance in understanding the needs of children and their parents is an exemplary model of what it really means to respect the personhood of patients. One of the intriguing possibilities in this book is the case that is made for the broad applicability of psychoanalytic theory and treatment. During a time in which psychodynamic work is being criticized as taking too long, costing too much, and producing too little, the author offers quite a convincing demonstration of its value. The negative consequences of increased disparagement of this approach are also made apparent, so that a definite step is taken to restore the worth of treatment options. Any limitations of this book are minor, relative to the excellent portrayal of the process of psychotherapy with difficult patients that too often frighten or overwhelm people who could help them if the helpers would let themselves discover how. This work by a master clinician definitely points the way. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Models of brief psychodynamic therapy.

Reviews the book, Models of brief psychodynamic therapy by Stanley B. Messer and C. Seth Warren. This book is suitable for supplementary reading in a graduate psychotherapy course, and is intended for graduate students in the field of clinical and counseling psychology. It is also intended as a concise reference work on brief psychodynamic therapies for clinicians who are or wish to practice in the newer mode of limited goals and limited sessions. The authors consider drive theory based psychotherapy treatment, as well as integrative and eclectic models of brief psychodynamic therapy. In consideration of each of the various approaches, Messer and Warren have primarily concerned themselves with four issues as a focal point of their analysis: (a) the theory of pathology involved; (b) the development of a clinical focus; (c) patient selection considerations, including indications and contraindications; and (d) typical techniques associated with the treatment involved. This text is an excellent addition to the literature, primarily for adjunct reading in graduate courses on psychotherapy. It also affords the opportunity for psychodynamically oriented clinicians to address a need for an overview and grounding in brief treatment models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Learning from the patient.

Reviews the book, Learning from the patient by Patrick J. Casement (see record 1990-99045-000). Learning from the patient is intended as a textbook on the technique of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy for beginning students and supervisors. Despite a regrettable absence of unifying theoretical concepts, Casement's book is masterly in his entirely convincing account of the complexity of unconscious communications that occur between patient and therapist. Casement demonstrates an acute sensitivity directed inward plus an unfailing and unremitting honesty. If I were asked to recommend one book on technique for the beginning therapist, I would recommend Learning from the patient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Models of brief psychodynamic therapy.

Reviews the book, Models of brief psychodynamic therapy by Stanley B. Messer and C. Seth Warren (see record 1995-98730-000), stating that the book organizes the prevailing models of brief psychodynamic therapy (BPT) into a clear and easily comprehended framework. The opening chapter sets the stage for the remainder of the book through a general overview of the current and historical contexts in which brief psychodynamic therapies have been performed and developed. Current views of brief psychotherapy are reviewed from the perspectives of the patient, the therapist, and managed care. This is followed by a review of the historical background of BPT, in which credit is given to Freud, Rank, Ferenczi, Alexander, and Reich for their relevant technical and theoretical contributions. Next, the authors survey some of the research relevant to BPT. The chapter concludes with a comprehensive discussion on the learning and teaching of BPT. Once this groundwork is laid, the authors delve into a discussion of the major models of BPT currently practiced and researched. The authors group the BPTs along theoretical lines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques of successful foremanship.

Reviews the book Techniques of successful foremanship by Theodore R. Lindbom (1953). This is the report of a study undertaken for the purpose of gaining an understanding of the techniques or traits characteristic of successful foremen prior to undertaking a supervisory training program. The "Jennings Supervisory Analysis," a 23-item questionnaire, was administered to 1,682 workers and their 52 foremen in a large midwestern plant. The findings of the questionnaire are presented. The reviewer notes that although this report presents objective evidence on desirable foreman characteristics, it is doubtful whether the author's hope that the findings "can be used to both clarify the objectives and to increase the effectiveness of foreman training programs" will be realized by persons who turn to this report with that same hope in mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychodynamic techniques: Working with emotion in the therapeutic relationship.

Reviews the book, Psychodynamic techniques: Working with emotion in the therapeutic relationship by Karen J. Maroda (see record 2010-01318-000). What makes Maroda’s work particularly remarkable, however, is that she not only manages to identify and explicate aspects of technique, but that the range of skills she addresses all converge on what can seem like an especially mystifying topic to new clinicians: the use of emotion in the therapeutic relationship. Maroda’s pragmatic tone seems to effortlessly weave concrete skills through the particularly vaporous topic of using emotion productively. The result is an admirably unmechanistic set of principles to aid clinicians in navigating the complex emotional terrain of the therapeutic relationship in a manner consistent with their own personal styles. One of the major strengths of Psychodynamic techniques is its breadth, and Maroda provides a good balance, including both general and specific issues related to the role of emotion in the therapeutic process. Despite the overall consistency of her attunement to the experience of the newer clinician, some of what Maroda stresses as vital to the therapeutic relationship may be unrealistic. The process of reading the book parallels the process of a successful therapy in which one has come to engage with and trust her guide and emerges a more flexible, confident, insightful person and professional. Maroda’s continued reassurances and frank openness to sharing her own vulnerabilities leaves the reader feeling infused with a sense of possibility that a fuller, deeper therapeutic relationship is possible. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques and issues in abuse-focused therapy with children and adolescents.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 43(1) of Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne (see record 2007-16926-001). In the biographical note following the review of Sandra Wieland's Techniques and issues in abuse-focused therapy with children and adolescents (Canadian Psychology, 2001, 42(4), p. 330), the author was identified as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. In fact, Dr. Wieland's appointment at the University of Ottawa ended in 1997.] Reviews the book, Techniques and issues in abuse-focused therapy with children and adolescents by Sandra Wieland (1998). Sandra Wieland's second book deals with difficulties faced by all kinds of therapists when dealing (in therapy) with young victims of sexual abuse. This book is unusual in that it emphasizes intervention over theory. It is based on clinical experience and includes a large number of excerpts from interviews. Another unusual aspect is the importance Wieland gives to adolescent experience. Basically, the book has four parts. The first part is a reiteration of the theoretical trauma model; the second deals with techniques; the third involves individual challenges corresponding to dissociation, sexuality, and resistance. In the fourth part, 15 adolescents and young adults present their point of view on what hindered and what helped their therapy. The techniques described have rarely been written about before, which makes this book highly interesting. This book stands out for its great sensitivity and understanding of children. It offers solid and imaginative approaches for caseworkers, as well as a wealth of information on methods seldom discussed elsewhere. (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 Recollecting Freud.

Reviews the book, Recollecting Freud by Isidor Sadger (2005). The author, Isidor Sadger (1867-1942), was a Viennese neurologist who first heard Freud lecture in September 1895, and then later joined (1906) Freud's Wednesday Psychological Society. The name of that organization was later changed to the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, and Sadger remained in it until 1933. The book itself contains, he tells us, "nothing other than what I personally experienced, and the impressions that Freud's character, his actions and writing made on me. In no place have I sought to present biographical details that I did not myself witness" (p. 5). This review is presented in two parts: (1) an examination of its merits and limitations, and (2) an explanation of how a text first written in the late 1920s came to be published now for the first time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Dimensions of psychoanalysis.

Reviews the book, Dimensions of psychoanalysis edited by Joseph Sandler (see record 1990-97786-000). Dimensions of psychoanalysis is a collection of Inaugural Lectures by the sequence of scholars who held the Freud chair in London while it was assigned to visiting dignitaries. The book represents a fertile decade in the history of the discipline. Despite the heterogeneity of the viewpoints contained in the volume, it is striking that some of the most influential intellectual and clinical initiatives of the period are neither represented nor even mentioned in this book. There is no reason to look for comprehensiveness or a balance of viewpoints in a volume commemorating a lecture series, but it is well to remember that psychoanalysis has many dimensions absent from this book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork by Eugene Victor Wolfenstein (see record 1994-97657-000). Wolfenstein's is the first work in the Freudo-Marxist tradition to fully conceptualize the intersection of Marxism and psychoanalysis as a field in its own right. Psychoanalytic-Marxism is therefore definitive in a twofold sense--as the most wide-ranging and thorough treatment of the subject now extant and as a work that literally defines what the subject is all about and lays out its relations to other lines of inquiry and practical endeavor. The reader of Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork should not expect easy going. This is a treatise, and its aim is comprehensiveness and theoretical precision rather than flashiness or a quick fix. Freud and Marx explored distinct domains each of which should be included in a comprehensive approach to human existence. In this sense, the discourses can be conjoined. But they also represent basically different, indeed contradictory values. At this level, a choice must be made, and Wolfenstein, though a practicing analyst, has made it for Marx. This results in a twofold principle: First, that the world is an unfree place; human development is stunted by this unfreedom, or domination, and the business of a conscientious person is to try to emancipate people from domination. And second, that the principal form of domination with which we contend, insofar as human effort can make any difference, is capitalism. Whether this remarkable work gets the recognition it deserves depends in part on the willingness of its readership to exert their intellectual muscles, and in another part on the degree to which we are willing to challenge seriously the received image of the benign neutrality of our social order. I can only hope that Psychoanalytic-Marxism takes its deserved place as one of the major intellectual syntheses of our time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Family therapy concepts and methods.

Reviews the book, Family therapy concepts and methods by Michael P. Nichols (1984). The wealth of information presented in this book about the field of psychotherapy is one of its major strengths. Eight separate schools of therapy are described, including their historic roots. Substantial reading lists are included with each chapter. The presentations include a developmental perspective and normal functioning by which the contrast of disordered behavior may be highlighted. Major figures, main concepts, and methods are presented in a well-written, easy-to-follow format. This text lends itself most usefully to the integration of individual psychodynamic psychotherapy as it contributes to an understanding of systems practice. The presentation of psychoanalytic developmental theory is the best and most useful I have seen. It is well suited to teaching clinicians. The total impression is that the book offers a presentation of psychotherapy as integrated into systemic practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Self inquiry.

Reviews the book, Self inquiry by M. Robert Gardner (1983). Gardner's fundamental insight is "that the psychoanalyst's main aim, now as in Freud's time, is, or might well be, to advance his or her own self inquiry to help his or her patients to advance their self inquiry to help him or her to advance his or hers. And so on. And so on" (pp. 7-8). Consequently, one of his key concepts, when describing the psychoanalytic work, is mutuality. It should be noted that what Gardner terms "self inquiry" is a rather humble activity, whether it is carried out by analysts or other human beings. Still, this kind of humble activity is ubiquitous, unavoidable, and pervasive. Self inquiry turns out to be written by a psychoanalyst of the purest water, in spite of the author's unconventional way of reasoning. I think that most experienced analysts will find such paradoxical formulations provocative but, above all, profoundly true. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Freud and Psychology.

Reviews the book, Freud and Psychology edited by S. G. M. Lee and Martin Herbert (see record 1971-29146-000). This volume presents twenty papers, an introduction and bibliographies on psychoanalysis. The papers are divided into seven sections which are headed "Psychoanalysis as Science: General Theoretical Considerations", "Psychoanalysis as Science: Methodological Considerations", "Freud's Genetic Theories: Infant Experience and Adult Behaviour", Psychosexual Development and Character Formation", "Defence Mechanisms", "Unconscious Motivation and Dreaming", and "Conclusions." The authors are psychologists and psychoanalysts of many persuasions who originally published these works between 1938 and 1966. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Saying goodbye: A casebook of termination in child and adolescent analysis and therapy.

Reviews the book, Saying goodbye: A casebook of termination in child and adolescent analysis and therapy edited by A. G. Schmukler. This is a puzzling, intriguing, and evocative book. I was pleasantly surprised to read a book about child analysis--albeit how to end the process with children. This is an important book for clinicians. Notwithstanding this reviewer's expectations to determine the differences between psychotherapy and analysis and when and where to apply them, we are given the vicissitudes of this very vulnerable enterprise of the therapeutic intervention and what is terminable in this process. Its contribution is substantial in understanding developmental growth, individuation, and our vulnerabilities. The authors have given us a justifiable use of psychoanalysis with children and adolescents that serves as a counterpoint to the problems inherent in managed mental health and the need for a pluralistic delivery system. Overall, this is a worthy book in the teaching and in the doing of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Partners in thought: Working with unformulated experience, dissociation, and enactment.

Reviews the book, Partners in thought: Working with unformulated experience, dissociation, and enactment by Donnel Stern (see record 2009-17014-000). Following Stephen Mitchell’s untimely death, Donnel Stern is rightly seen as the doyen of Relational Psychoanalysis (RP). In a series of publications he has eloquently and passionately expounded its theoretical-clinical principles in an accessible yet never oversimplified way. This latest volume, mainly a compilation of papers published over the past 10 years or so, further explicates and consolidates his earlier views (Stern, 1997). Relational Psychoanalysis (RP) is perhaps best seen as part of a dialectic, an antiphone to establishment psychoanalysis—if such a thing there still is in an increasingly pluralized world. From a relatively uncommitted perspective, it remains unclear whether RP is a genuinely new set of ideas and practices or a primarily political turn in which traditional ideas are restated in contemporary, and sometimes deliberately contrary, terminology. It is probably both. Reading Stern provides an opportunity to come to a balanced view about this. Whatever conclusions are drawn from his bold assertion of the relational paradigm, listening to Stern’s authentic and enjoyable voice is an experience from which all but the most theoretically blinkered therapists can learn and benefit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys.

Reviews the book, Awakening the dreamer: Clinical journeys by Philip M. Bromberg (see record 2006-08993-000). Engaging with the many dimensions of Bromberg’s absorbing writing opens the reader/clinician, of whatever theoretical persuasion, to other self states and new and “other” thoughts about the psychoanalytic process. Bromberg approaches psychoanalytic work in a deeply personal manner that enables him to articulate the reasons why it is not only acceptable but also entirely necessary for the analyst to engage personally with the patient. He also creates a personally impactful psychoanalytic reading experience for his readers. The engagement of reader and author also captures one of the major themes in Bromberg’s contribution: that healthy psychological functioning involves the freedom to access different self states, to live in the “polyphony” of the self rather than in fragmented dissociated and sequestered self states, and, through that polyphony, to find self-coherence and immediacy in living. This volume draws on contemporary developments in psychoanalysis, attachment theory, neuropsychology, child development, and Bromberg’s abiding faith in literature, poetry, and the imagination. It presents a thorough and fully formed statement of Bromberg’s unique body of work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)