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Goldberg has written a welcome and comprehensive handbook on the vocation and practicalities of being a psychotherapist; for this purpose, he does not make distinctions between analysts and other types of psychotherapist. According to James Grotstein, who has written the foreword, there is no other book of this kind in the American literature and, so far as I can find out, no British equivalent. Goldberg's description of a period in his career when he grew disillusioned, stale and overworked gives point to his belief that a vital part of the work is the personal satisfaction and self-development of the psychotherapist. Although he refers to Jung a number of times, he does not attribute to him the idea that psychotherapy is a process in which both participants are involved, where both can learn and grow. He arrives at this idea from his own experience and the development of humanist psychology in America, as distinct from American psychoanalysis, which has emphasised the function of the analyst as a ‘blank screen’.
Goldberg is concerned about the hazards of practising psychotherapy, a career which, he says, can sometimes be downright dangerous and has a profound effect on therapists' health and well-being. Most writing in the field focuses on theory and the patient; little has been written about the well-being of the practitioner and, for this reason, his book is a much-needed addition to the literature on psychotherapy. Disillusionment is a common affliction of psychotherapists and, he feels, is probably greater for the traditional analyst than for the active, pragmatic practitioner who is directly involved in doing something for the client. No matter what the practitioner's theoretical standpoint, however, what makes the essential difference is how he ‘uses his own vulnerability and sensitivity to intimacy in guiding the client's personal journey in search of self’. In doing so, he is open to anguish, strain and ‘burnt-out’, for it is his belief that therapists in W