| Abstract: | Reviews the book, Forms of Intersubjectivity in Infant Research and Adult Attachment by Beatrice Beebe, Steven Knoblauch, Judith Rustin, and Dorienne Sorter (2005). In this book, the authors use their 10 years of collaborative work to produce an in-depth and well-constructed discussion of verbal and nonverbal forms of intersubjectivity as observed in the treatment setting and as evidenced by data generated from more mainstream child development studies. They move beyond the lack of integration between these related though often dramatically disconnected disciplines and build on infant researchers' understanding of "prereflective" caregiver-child interactions to offer a new theory of intersubjectivity that enhances our understanding of the clinical interaction with adult patients. This book is not for those therapists who are interested in learning well-specified, new interventions to use in their psychotherapy practice. It is also not suggested for those clinicians who do not have some background in psychoanalytic theory and practice. It is, however, recommended for those clinicians who work psychodynamically and are interested in developing their awareness of the nonverbal aspects of treatment and the co-construction of the therapeutic encounter. This book would also be useful to those in the field of psychotherapy research as it poses new questions about the nature of the therapeutic process and suggests the importance of examining the role that implicit, nonverbal interactions play in psychotherapy. Beebe, Knoblauch, Rustin, and Sorter's book is well constructed, persuasively argued, and highly recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
