You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
The author, a psychoanalytically orientated psychologist, has here written the first textbook on the briefer psychotherapies and for this he deserves our thanks. He stresses that for the larger portion of the population of any country, there will be no psychotherapy if the only therapy is long-term, and has therefore attempted 'to make readily available in a cogently organized form the wisdom and the experience of the surprisingly large number of therapists who have penetrated the "time-barrier" in psychotherapy', and 'to proselytize, to call attention to the impressive record of directed, intentional short-term psychotherapy' (p. xvi).
The book is divided into four parts. The first gives a picture of the beginnings and growth of the therapies, their distinguishing features, and supporting theories. They are distinguished from psychoanalysis in terms of goals, time factors, and methods. Since the term 'brief' in the titles refers to time, this is obviously a crucial topic, but since each therapist quoted has his own ideas of what he means by brief, ranging from one to 217 sessions, the author appreciates that no precision can be given here apart from sorting them into five general time categories. He does not give his own opinion on this topic and I find this highlights what, for me, is a defect that runs throughout the book—that the author does not commit himself to a critical viewpoint and this tends to make the substance of the book bland, without bite, and hence less helpful than it could be.
The second part describes models of process, and is mainly devoted to describing an alphabetical compendium of techniques and interventions that have been used, listing more than 70, from 'abreaction'; 'activity of therapist'; to 'ventilation'; 'writing therapy'. Curiously, it lists electroconvulsive therapy as a psychotherapeutic technique; by this criterion, the leaving of patients on the waiting list for treatment would be equally appropriate as a technique.
The third