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Over the last several years the concepts of a two-person psychology and intersubjectivity, along with associated clinical techniques, have become increasingly prominent in the psychoanalytic and psychotherapeutic literature. However, many psychoanalysts do not yet have a clear notion of what these ideas signify. In addition, many psychoanalysts still do not accept the critiques of the concepts of neutrality, anonymity and abstinence and cringe at the self-revelation suggested by many clinicians who employ these approaches. Safran and Muran brilliantly explicate these approaches and argue for their utility in a clear and cohesive fashion, focusing on the handling of disruptions in the therapeutic alliance. They weave together multiple concepts in constructing their approach, drawing from the work of Ferenczi, Sullivan, Mitchell, Greenberg, Luborsky and Buddhist philosophers.
The book, however, suffers from a significant flaw: it does not address the potential problems with these approaches. This is of particular importance because the authors offer their book as a manual for training therapists in approaches to resolving disruptions in the therapeutic alliance. Individuals in training and beginning analysts who use some of the self-revelatory techniques suggested in this book would be more likely to need advice on dealing with the potential ‘side effects’ of these interventions. These side effects, which could stall the therapeutic process, include patients experiencing therapists as sensitive or rejecting, or experiencing limitations of fantasy about therapists, stemming from therapists' self-revelations. It is not until the last case in the book that mention is made of a patient being hurt by one of the therapist's self-revelations, despite the fact that recurrent references are made to therapists commenting on feeling distant from patients or feeling unable to help patients.
In spite of this problem, the authors provide a complex interweaving of ideas supporting the