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The outstanding feature of this book is the way in which Mrs Wittenberg has managed to convey and explain a number of Kleinian cocepts in clearly understandable form. In addition she has linked them effectively with the practical aspect of casework and counselling. Her success in carrying out these two very difficult tasks certainly gives the book a very much wider sphere of usefulness than it would have otherwise. It can be used by the caseworker with clients (as well as other people working with individuals and families) in practically all of the day to day transactions. The formulations are valid both for individuals and in a family context. Should any of these workers wish to learn further, they will find that their basic equipment is set reliably upon entirely sound foundations.
One of the notable features about Mrs Wittenburg's handling of the problems of casework is the way in which she shows the caseworker how to avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed either by therapeutic omnipotence or by complete therapeutic despair and inadequacy. The idea of containment and clarification in the casework situation is that a normal process can be set into motion again when it has become obstructed, either due to the excessive pressures of external factors or due to the sabotaging and crippling effects of internal factors from the recent or remote past of the client. This approach is entirely meaningful and sophisticated workers in the field of personal relationships as well as beginners can learn a lot from this book. The realities and difficulties of the transference situation, as it develops between the caseworker and the client, are constantly kept in mind. The limits of casework in relieving log jams and not really going all out for character change, which would involve psychoanalysis itself on a much more frequent and systematic basis, are implied in every section of the book.
Bion's ideas are propounded and illustrated with practical examples in a very clear