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This is a book of a collection of papers previously published in other journals. As such the chapters have the quality of being able to stand alone, and yet they have been skilfully selected and adapted to enable a coherent journey through Bromberg's thoughts on the subject of dissociation with the emphasis on how it is experienced and worked through in the consulting room.
As practitioners, in the room, and after, we often question “was that dissociation?” An obvious “character change” observed in a patient, either through behaviour or voice is easier to recognise than the more subtle shifts. Bromberg addresses these more subtle changes, experienced in the relationship between patient and analyst. He holds a magnifying glass to those moments that may otherwise be overlooked. It is all too easy to notice, to focus our analytic attention on those parts of the session where a clear “something” happens. But through reading this book we see that a great deal lies in those moments when we sense a momentary shift has occurred. Something slipped by. Often we are then deflected by other aspects of the work and explore that moment no more. It is not easy to reflect on what happened after the event, it is easy to dismiss the moment for the one that clearly has the substance of words, something that can more easily be grasped.
Through Bromberg's writing we see his experience of these moments of fragmentation and so making the process of dissociation more visible. Bromberg has the ability to hold those tiny moments under a microscope and explore what may have happened to cause the shift. In this book Bromberg demonstrates well what it is that we see in the room, and what it is that we can do when we see it.
The book is in three parts.
Bromberg talks of the patient with dissociation, the make-up of self-states, how they can come to being. The experience a child has of “not-me” when a part is not acknowledged by the carer. How these disallowed selves do not d