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At the heart of this collection of essays lies Susan Budd's Transference Revisited. It is a lucid and accessible retelling of the story of Dora, a description of the psychoanalyst's use of transference and a delineation of its evolution in practice to the present day. I have already found it to be an invaluable teaching tool as well as a beautifully written psychoanalytic ‘summa’.
In the final section of the paper, Budd looks at the social identity of psychoanalysis. She takes into account the shifting of the concept of the relationship between therapist and patient from the original medical model to one which is closer, more intuitive and more introspective. She also traces psychoanalysis from its historical roots, when it was necessary to describe it in ways which would make it accessible to the medical establishment. The author feels that the balancing act between the respectability of medical legitimization and the preservation of an internal identity is now somewhat less precarious for the psychoanalytic profession. However it seems that the tightrope is still being walked, as has been demonstrated by recent splits amongst psychoanalytic psychotherapists.
The diverse nature of the authors and their very individual approaches to the concept of the ‘healing bond’ provides the strength and unifying philosophy of this book, although its very range requires an agility of mind on the part of the reader. The editors, Susan Budd, a psychoanalyst with a background in sociology, and Ursula Sharma, a social anthropologist and sociologist, have gathered together papers from various professionals including an anthropologist, a general practitioner, a sociology professor specializing in health, a solicitor, an osteopath and naturopath, and a gynaecologist. Representing a wide range of concerns and experience, they ask questions about the nature of therapeutic responsibility in the healer/patient relationship, the possibility of shared professional responsibility, and the influ