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This title, as the author notes, will be of interest to candidates just getting started and experienced clinicians. The writing is clear, informal, and personal, with an emphasis on clinical experience. Drawing from years of experience and including what he describes as his many “miss-steps” from which he freely draws, the author provides lucid examples that clarify the many technical points discussed in the text. Wishnie's stated “struggle to be genuinely present” (p. ix) clearly reflects in the writing style and in the presented content.
The concept of countertransference has undergone a considerable evolution since Freud first identified and described countertransference as a “blind spot” that he believed interfered with the psychoanalyst's efficacy and that, according to Freud, demands purging through the requisite training analysis. While Wishnie does not negate the importance of Freud's view, he elaborates a stance that views the therapist's own inner reactions as an essential and unavoidable aspect of psychoanalytic treatment. He asserts that when such reactions are experienced, felt, thoughtfully understood, and fully integrated into the process of psychotherapy, they “can be of great service to the patient” (p. 2). He therefore endeavors to demonstrate how pervasive transference and countertransference are in the treatment.
With this point in mind, Wishnie notes, “In this book, I am defining countertransference to mean the therapist's personal transference, as aroused in the process of working with a particular individual” (p. 32). From this perspective he presents concepts and clinical examples along with useful guidelines derived from his years of experience that are geared toward maximizing the clinical usefulness of the psychotherapist's countertransference experiences. This approach is strengthened by the integration of recent infant research, which informs his discussion of the patient's nonverbal communication.
A consistent theme that threads together t