Thomas Ogden is a well-known (but rarely heard) psychoanalyst from San Francisco, and this is his fifth book Ogden's theoretical concepts focus on the overlapping reverie states of the analyst and analysand during the course of an analysis This exploration of the jointly generated “analytic third” highlights his work on transference/counter-transference

This book is primarily based on Ogden's prior journal publications from 1995 to 1997, which include “Aliveness and Deadness of the Transference-Countertransference,” “Perverse Subjects of Analysis,” “Three Aspects of Analytic Technique,” and “Use of Language in Psychoanalysis and Listening,” as well as a whimsical article, “Three Frost Poems”