From the Editors

In this issue of JAPA Review of Books we build on two themes explored in the original papers by Arthur Nielsen on projective identification and couple therapy, and by Karen Gilmore on development and emerging adulthood.

For those of you who treat couples in analytic therapy—and for those of you who don't, but would welcome a window into this facet of analytic treatment—we are pleased to spotlight two important new contributions to the literature on psychoanalytic couple therapy. Richard Zeitner's review of Shelley Nathans and Milton Schaefer's edited volume, Couples on the Couch, begins with a helpful history of the Psychoanalytic Couple Psychotherapy Group (PCPG, based in Berkeley, California), and of its mooring in the Tavistock tradition of treatment for couples and groups—which endures today at Tavistock Relationships (TR) in London. Both Nathans and Schaefer are on the faculty at PCPG, and as Zeitner notes, most contributors to this volume are affiliated with either PCPG or TR. Collectively, their contributions capture much of current thinking about psychoanalytic work with couples, especially in the TR tradition. Mary Morgan's single-authored A Couple State of Mind also elaborates the TR approach to psychoanalytic couple therapy. In her review of Morgan's book, Caroline Sehon appreciates the author's use of clinical vignettes “artfully selected to illustrate complex dynamics and techniques.” Sehon highlights Morgan's focus on the value of “observing the couple relationship from a ‘third position’;” her use of developmental theory to understand how members of a couple may grow, or fail to grow, together; and her attention to uses of transference and countertransference in the psychoanalytic treatment of couples.

Next we present two contemporary works on developmental theory and play therapy. Sandra Landen reviews Play Therapy: A Psychodynamic Primer for the Treatment of Young Children, by Pamela Meersand and Karen Gilmore—a comprehensive and thought-provoking vol