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John Gedo's frequent contributions to the psychoanalytic literature have identified him as an analyst with a critical perspective on theory that is both provocative and difficult to classify. Initially, in Models of the Mind, his collaborative effort with Goldberg, he appeared to share Kohut's revisionist spirit. Since that time, Gedo's closeness to Kohut (and presumably Goldberg as well) has eroded, leaving
him, as shown in Beyond Interpretation, dissatisfied with what he sees as the limitations of both the classical drive defence and Kohutian models when applied to problems of disordered narcissism. Since Gedo sees these patients as requiring something different from either interpretation or self object utilization, he departs from the two major competing theories which have generally been utilized in the psychoanalytic approach to patients with disordered narcissism. His need to distinguish his thinking from that of other psychoanalytic theorists by stressing the unique nature of his insight into the need of certain patients for non-interpretive interventions (pacification, integration and optimal frustration), which he links to specific levels of developmental arrest, has characterized his previous contributions.
This current book consists of a series of essays, most of which have appeared elsewhere in psychoanalytic literature; some were undertaken as book reviews and others as invited contributions to books or journals. The passionate tone of the opinions expressed, as well as the content, should surprise psychoanalytic readers. Gedo has many opinions and little reservation about sharing them. The subtitle of the book, Essays in History and Method, is somewhat misleading because these essays deal neither with history or methodology in the usual use of these terms. By history, Gedo means his assessment of certain historical figures in psychoanalysis rather than an examination of the forces in an historica