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The stated aim of this book is to provide a contemporary contribution to the literature about transference and countertransference. It is my impression, however, that the intention of greater significance is to celebrate the acceptance of the British Psychoanalytic Association (BPA) into the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). The contributors are all BPA members.
The prelude to the book, written with elegance by Debbie Bandler Bellman, describes in some detail the rather difficult birth of the BPA from within the British Association of Psychotherapists (BAP). Some members of the BAP wished to be recognized within the international community but also to remain part of the BAP, and the process of developing their separate identity has been, as Bandler Bellman points out, ‘complicated, and at times, treacherous’ (p. xxiii). Her prelude is a fascinating description of the process of evolution and change and the careful path that needed to be steered with the BAP. There are some contradictions too. For example, at one point, Bandler Bellman upholds future BPA members' ‘passion for the increased possibilities of in-depth work within the transference and countertransference attendant upon a greater frequency of sessions’ (p. xxiii). Yet later, she quotes Michael Parsons' rather