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Although analysts from different theoretical positions agree on its efficacy, there is still little consensus on why psychoanalysis is so often helpful, even transformative. Most of us now accept that ‘something more’ (PCSG, 1998), beyond interpretation and insight, is required for patients to change. Still, there is as yet no agreement as to what else is required. In this clear and well-written book, Frank Summers offers his ideas about what may be needed beyond intellectual insight to bring about change. Summers, a training and supervising analyst at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis, has obviously thought hard about why so many patients remain stuck even when they understand fully the derivation of their problems. Several sections of his book derive from previously published material. With the exception of an occasional resulting redundancy, the volume is coherent and quite readable.
At the risk of overly simplifying his ideas on promoting change, Summers suggests that analysts may be excessively focused on the patient's past and the interpretation of the present in light of the patient's history. While he believes that valid interpretations are essential, Summers thinks analysts must also look to the future and help patients recognize latent goals and desires within themselves. He