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This is the best textbook-like presentation of the technique of psycho-analysis with which the present reviewer is acquainted. It is suitable for the beginner provided that he does not intend to remain such, and it is sufficiently advanced to be studied with interest and profit by the experienced practitioner of psycho-analysis. Moreover, it comes from a writer who has long been famed for his mastery of psycho-analytic theory and for his eloquence as well as his vigour of presentation. The reader who is eager to have a competent instructor or a refresher course with someone who understands how to keep his interest always at a high pitch will not be deterred by Glover's individual style, which as usual is richly spiced with critical comment and at times even passes into censoriousness.
This book is not the author's first attempt at presenting a coherent description of psycho-analytical technique: 'The first edition of The Technique of Psycho-Analysis consisted of a verbatim report of six lectures delivered as a training course at the London Institute of Psycho-Analysis in the days before systematic instruction in psycho-analytic technique was initiated'. In the new edition the chapter headings and most of the contents have remained the same, and this testifies to the fact that as far back as 1927 the author had already acquired a definite and lasting conception of the main aspects of psycho-analytical technique. Little can be found to be called outdated, and Ernest Jones' recommendation of the first edition still holds good: 'There are not many books absolutely indispensable to the practising analyst, but this is assuredly one of them.'
Much instruction will be found by the beginner and little to grumble about by the critic in the first two chapters of Part I (The Technique of Psycho-Analysis), which describe 'the analytic situation' and 'the opening phase'. The five chapters which follow describe the main phases of treatment as well as the principal variations