Reconciling Empirical Knowledge and Clinical Experience: The Art And Science of Psychotherapy. Stephen Soldz and Leigh McCullough, eds. Washington, D.C.:  American Psychological Association, 2000.  286 pp.

In this unique book thirteen prominent psychotherapy clinician-researchers (all but one a psychologist and only one a psychoanalyst) reflect candidly and often humorously on the “dynamic tension” of engaging in these two very different pursuits, personally balancing two different orientations to accruing and applying knowledge and understanding what works in psychotherapy. The editors note the difficulty they had in finding willing contributors to the volume, clinical researchers who were comfortable writing about their personal balancing act in conducting their activities. The resulting volume is a valuable set of essays on the value and difficulty of conducting valid clinically relevant research, and the necessity of informing research with insights from practice and vice versa. It also is an excellent resource for clinical researchers interested in selecting measures for their own research, as the contributors reflect and evaluate what symptom scales, coding systems, and observational techniques have been useful in their work on understanding the process and outcome of psychotherapy. While the authors represent a range of theoretical and clinical orientations, many of the qualitative techniques and design issues are of interest to the psychoanalytic clinical researcher.