Introduction to the Technique of Psychotherapy: Practice Guidelines for Psychotherapists, by Samuel I. Greenberg, M.D., Charles Thomas, 1998,  106 ps.

“Experience is the best teacher” and the vast experience of Samuel I. Greenberg becomes the solid foundation for an enriched learning experience for both seasoned

and beginning psychotherapists in this latest book, Introduction to the Technique of Psychotherapy.

Not a “how to” book, it is a sophisticated, direct, and gentle guide to conducting psychotherapy that heightens the reader's awareness of his own feelings and ideas as well as his own sensitivity to those of his patients. It also develops an understanding of the space between the patient and therapist. Dr. Greenberg is a skilled author as well as a skilled practitioner, and the reader soon begins to see the world—the world of psychotherapy—through the wise and experienced eyes of Dr. Greenberg.

Although this is a book for beginners, Dr. Greenberg tackles complex subjects, such as projective identifications, using simple words and examples that make the concepts crystal clear. But before he reaches the complexities and nuances of advanced psychoanalytic concepts, he brings the reader, step by step, from the basics of the initial interview and early phases of treatment to the richness of dream interpretation, the use of insight, the working alliance, and ultimately the termination process. There are special chapters on anxiety and depression, and on suicide, that all therapists, especially beginners, will find enormously helpful.

In addition to a well-researched and selective bibliography at the end of each chapter, a meaningful glossary of psychiatric/psychoanalytic terms, and an excellent subject index, Dr. Greenberg included a section on special situations. It covers such topics as combining medication with psychotherapy for both medical and nonmedical practitioners, predicting and preventing suicide, and the all-too-often rationalized sexual encounters with patients (which Dr. Greenberg believes is never justified, even if it takes place years after the patient has terminated. Following the American Psychia