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With Dare to Be Human, Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum presents an astonishingly open and accessible account of a psychoanalytic treatment. In undertaking its writing he seeks to redress “the profound lack of case studies describing the development of the therapeutic or analytic process from beginning to end” (p. xxiv) and the damage psychoanalysis has caused itself through mystification of the treatment process. He also wishes to redress the dearth of case studies understandable to the nonanalyst. In addition, the book may be unique in its inclusion of commentary on the therapeutic experience written by the patient himself. Rosenbaum explains at the outset his intent to interweave three narrative strands: the account of his patient Daniel's treatment, his perspective on his growth as a therapist (Daniel was one of his first analytic patients), and his views on the impact of the relational perspective on contemporary psychoanalysis.
All this leads to the book's potential to attract a broad audience. The case history, written in a style as akin to storytelling as it is to clinical case reporting, will be accessible to a lay audience and perhaps of relevance to people considering analytic therapy and wishing an introduction to the treatment method and its potential for transformative life change. For the contemporary student of psychoanalysis, the book offers exposure to the major challenges and dilemmas with which the analyst must wrestle in both the personal and interpersonal realms. For the seasoned analyst, Rosenbaum confronts the complex issues facing contemporary psychoanalysis in an era of theoretical pluralism and discusses them in a manner that invites creative dialogue rather than ideological warfare.
The book also distinguishes itself as an unusually personal account of a treatment process from the perspective of the analyst. Rosenbaum's own history resonates powerfully with that of Daniel. Both of them suffered profound psychic wounds at the hands of parents who