Psychodynamic Treatment Research: A Handbook for Clinical Practice. : Edited by Nancy E. Miller, Lester Luborsky, Jacques P. Barber and John P. Docherty. New York: Basic Books. 1993. Pp. 577.

This well-written, thorough book is an important contribution to the literature of psychotherapy and a valuable review of current psychodynamic psychotherapy research. In 26 chapters, leading psychotherapy researchers summarise the impressive gains made in investigating psychodynamic treatments. Clinical and research findings are integrated to address topics such as the importance of the therapeutic alliance in predicting treatment outcome and the construction of measures to assess transference. The emphasis on the quantitative investigation of key clinical concepts is a major strength of the book. This volume will appeal to psychotherapy researchers and those in training who are interested in the current state of psychodynamic research. Teachers may find it useful in that it describes how central concepts are defined and measured and explores the relationship of these concepts to treatment outcome.

Those readers who are uninformed about progress in the field of psychotherapy research will certainly be impressed and even awed at times, but many psychoanalysts will feel overwhelmed and confused by the technical details and may wonder