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Psychoanalysts who unclose to the current flow of the professional scene find themselves in a continuous process of a new definition of their competence and of their relationship with the patients. Lichtenberg, Lachmann and Fosshage are outstanding representatives of their profession, each with his own line of publications and own accents of expressing his talents. Now they have written their third conjoint book. Within the first two volumes they gave a detailed description of five motivational systems and of ten principles of technique, In this new book they call attention to the unfolding of various forms of inquiry and communication between patient and therapist.
In discussing the relative importance given to empathy and relational interaction they introduce communication as an “overarching phenomenon that integrates the verbal and nonverbal features of analytic therapy”. By communication the authors mean “exchanges of explicit and implicit information interpersonally and to one's self”. They ‘champion’ the turn to the relational theory within the last twenty years, with its facets in various trends, like the attachment theory and intersubjec-tivity. They hold on to the conviction that adequate consideration regarding motivation (see the five motivational systems, initially presented by Lichtenberg) and communication should not be omitted. The authors point to Ferenczi as an historic predecessor of their thoughts.
In the first two chapters the authors outline modern findings about “the development of communication with self and other in infancy”. The analysis of “language and play” (p. 41) for instance will provide the reader with intellectual and psychological pleasure. Relevant conclusions from several sources and especially the Strange Situation Test and the Adult Attachment Interview are being reported. In addition to a survey of essential findings from 25 years of attachment research, they describe the outcomes of recent systematic studies of triangular family