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From the beginning of The Power of Connection, Jane Hall invites us to question our certainty, especially when it comes to what we think we know about psychoanalysis. She opens with this quote by Thomas Ogden (2007):
The analyst's feeling of certainty is often tied to the idea that there exists a proper “analytic technique.” … By contrast, think of “analytic style” as one's own personal creation that is loosely based on existing principles of analytic practice, but more importantly is a living process that has its origins in the personality and experience of the analyst. (p. 1185)
Hall invites the reader to travel with her through her own living process, demonstrating how her analytic style has changed since her seminal work, Deepening the Treatment (Hall, 1998). She reflects on five decades of work as a psychoanalyst, weaving together theory, clinical vignettes, neuroscience, and jazz into a colorful, textured tapestry. Hall seeks to engage the reader who is new to psychoanalytic concepts and curious about depth psychotherapy, invite the seasoned psychoanalytic reader to consider the contributions of neuroscience, and encourage the classically oriented analyst to contemplate the potential of mutuality and intersubjectivity. On this last point, The Power of Connection reads as though Hall is in conversation with orthodox colleagues and mentors, or perhaps with an earlier, more classically oriented version of herself.