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This scholarly and useful essay seeks to ground psychoanalytic technique in interpretation marbleized within the therapeutic alliance. The timeliness of the volume arises from the author's perception—one that I share—of a drift in theory of technique from a valorization of interpretation toward one of relation. While seeking to appreciate and particularize this shift, Meissner asserts that the effectiveness of interpretation as propounded in Strachey's paper, “The Nature of Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis,” remains largely intact. This paper is so privileged as to be reprinted in its entirety in the front of the book.
In exploring the relevant literature, the author omits the culturalist and interpersonalist schools, and partially homogenizes unique aspects of ego psychology, object relations, and self-psychology in order to argue his view: The process of interpretation and the insight achieved “takes place within a relational matrix that both colors the interpretive process and provides those elements that make the process viable and meaningful” (p. 59).
This effort, the reconciliation of the preeminence of interpretation and the increasing respect accorded the therapeutic alliance, is worthy to the extent that one still does need to regard interpretation as the preeminent factor. Despite the formidable intelligence and scholarship of the author, his effort comes through as strained and awkward. A note of righteousness is sounded: “While the last decade has seen a shift in the emphasis given to various factors, the role of interpretation and the development of insight still retain a preeminent position. This approach rides on a commitment to the principle that knowledge and truth have healing power, especially the