A colleague recently told a joke: there are two kinds of analysis, the sort in which if the analyst died the patient wouldn't notice, and the sort in which if the patient died the analyst wouldn't notice. This somewhat morbid piece of cryptic humour — with its hint at underlying conflict, unresolved and therefore painful — was related in the context of a small group of analysts debating differences in technique between analysts of various persuasions. If forced to choose, I would reckon to place this book in the first category, yet simultaneously have serious reservations about doing so since this is a work which addresses the problem areas