Psychotherapy: Psychodynamic Therapy: A Guide to Evidence-Based Practice. By Richard F. Summers and Jacques P. Barber. New York:  Guilford Press, 2010,  xii + 356 pp., $40.00. Psychodynamic Techniques: Working with Emotion in the Therapeutic Relationship. By Karen J. Maroda. New York:  Guilford Press, 2010,  xii + 274 pp., $35.00. Change in Psychotherapy: A Unifying Paradigm. By The Boston Change Process Study Group. New York:  W. W. Norton, 2010,  xx + 236 pp., $35.00. Psychotherapy Is Worth It: A Comprehensive Review of Its Cost-Effectiveness. By The Committee on Psychotherapy. Edited by Susan G. Lazar. Washington, DC:  American Psychiatric Publishing, 2010,  viii + 352 pp., $60.00 paperback.

Initially psychoanalytic theory and technique informed and helped shape that of psychotherapy. In Freud's words, analysis was the “pure gold” that was blended with suggestion to create the “bronze” (later reduced to baser metals) of psychotherapy.

With the progression of analytic thought from a one-person to a two-person psychology and the innovations of object relations theory, self psychology, and the intersubjective and relational points of view, the connection between the two practices has become a two-way street in which each stands to benefit from the other.

These four books, standing at the interface between psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, demonstrate to analysts and therapists alike what they stand to gain from careful consideration of the data provided by thoughtful study of psychodynamic or psychoanalytic psychotherapy. For the analyst they provide a fresh perspective on the interaction and therapeutic process in the analytic situation.

The books reviewed here provide an impressive demonstration of the vitality and significance of recent work in the fields of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The first two titles offer introductions to clinical psychotherapy for beginning and seasoned practitioners alike. The third book