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Most psychoanalysts are fascinated by discovering the different ways in which their colleagues think and work, and this type of pleasure is amply gratified by this book. The editor, Peter Giovacchini, has invited contributions from 14 psychoanalysts to express themselves both personally and scientifically on the tactics and techniques of psychoanalytic therapy, and the emergent result has shown a surprising convergence of topic. Most of the contributors have chosen to discuss the problems associated with treating personality disorders, borderline conditions, and frank psychosis, the very types of disorder once thought unanalysable in terms of Freud's early distinction between the transference and the narcissistic neuroses. Other publications have also indicated that these sorts of patients have interested psychoanalysts of differing orientations over the past decade or so.
Of the 15 contributors (14 plus the editor), nine are from the U.S.A. and six (although two, Glover and Winnicott, are now deceased) from England. This makes the book an excellent example of Anglo-American cooperation and demonstrates the similarities and closeness of thinking and technique. It is necessary to say that the English contributors are all from the Independent Group of psychoanalysts, and none of the Americans seem to be 'orthodox' Freudians or Kleinians. Thus an element of bias does exist, but this is not to say that either Freud or Klein are, in any sense of the word, forgotten or neglected in terms of theory or practice.
The title is really a misnomer, since it suggests a concern with purely practical matters, but the book is far more valuable than this. It contains a great deal of psychoanalytic theory which is used to conceptualize why different tactics and techniques are employed and why different things happen if different techniques are used. There is a constant attempt to unite theory and practice which is one of the greatest merits of any book on psychoanalysis. The bo