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This is an unusual and exciting book in many ways. One of the ways in which it is unusual is that it combines the presentation of Freudian and post-Freudian theories and concepts with a demonstration of how and to what extent these have been useful to the author in the practice of psychoanalysis. It is exciting in that Neville Symington succeeds, to an extent which no other author I've come across does, in leading the reader through his musing and clinical illustrations to glimpse something of the essential flavour of the analytic process and the atmosphere within the consulting room. He comes from many angles at his central task of trying to convey what psychoanalysis is, concerning himself with what is truth, insight, and meaning, within the psychoanalytic setting. He shows us how analyst and patient are struggling with their attempts and resistances to arrive at understanding the truth about what is going on between them and how this leads to a deep understanding of the patient's personality. The book can thus serve as a helpful introduction to psychoanalysis for the general reader: it can equally help professionals in making up their mind whether to embark on a personal analysis or recommend it to others.
The book is of equal, if not greater, importance for therapists, for it examines how the psychoanalytic work affects the analyst as well as the patient. The honesty with which the analyst's mind at work in situations of stress is revealed reminded me of Patrick Casement's Learning From the Patient, another remarkably courageous book, published a year before the one under review here. It is indeed reassuring to know that psychoanalysis has reached a degree of maturity which allows some analysts to share their thinking about patients' material and their learning on the basis of self-examination and clinical mistakes. This encourages us to follow such examples and stresses the