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Psychosomatic conditions form part of the ordinary, increasingly common and at the same time complex work of psychotherapists. This book contains a wealth of theories, clinical vignettes and case histories, which draw attention to this complex and, as I see it, fascinating area of psychotherapeutic work. It pays homage to the early psychosomatists in the USA, South America and France but is not a collection of fundamental papers. It is thoroughly Freudian in approach, with one notable exception, and takes its reference mainly from the Paris School of Psychosomatics developed by Marty and his followers in the 1940s.
The notable exception is Catalina Bronstein, the only UK contributor, and the only author using Kleinian and post Kleinian metapsychology. Her chapter stands out as coming from a different, complementary theoretical position, using the concept of unconscious phantasy as a base from which to theorize and approach clinical work in the psychosomatic domain.
Reading this book I felt that I wanted the company of other readers to study it with me. This could, I think, be like sharing a meal round the table, to discuss and digest the many different approaches described in the book, as some chapters felt more indigestible than others. At times there was a feeling of something inedible, or excessive in some of the authors’ approaches to the psychodynamics underlying both common and complex physical conditions. In my experience of working clinically with people with various forms of physical, neurological, psychosomatic and hysterical disorders (and sometimes a confusing combinations of all four), it can feel as overwhelming for the clinician as it does for the patient, at least initially. This can of course be helpful in that something of the complexity and concrete nature of such conditions is precisely what is being communicated and projected into, the clinician. Working with the countertransference with such patients is vital in my opinion, as without it things q