In this compact volume Darlene Ehrenberg argues persuasively for focusing on the experience of the interaction between analyst and analysand to facilitate a genuinely effective analytic process. Initially, she recognises that technique, or what the analyst consciously intends, does not account for therapeutic action. She looks to the patient's reactions, especially the subtle affective clues, to discover aspects of what she has done of which she has been unaware. She sees attempts by analysts to maintain emotional distance or presumed objectivity as leading to enactments that are unacknowledged and block genuine growth. She views enactments relating to patient's unconscious fantasies and past experiences as inevitable.

The key to increasing awareness of them and to developing choices to change is the analyst's openess to awareness of his experience of the interaction