In this book, Dr. Murphy has set himself a herculean task; on the whole I should say he has succeeded. This is a big book and most of the volume is taken up with verbatim transcriptions of psychotherapeutic interviews with a wide variety of patients whose illnesses range over the phobic, hysteric, psychosomatic, and 'borderline' syndromes.

The author approaches these problems from the point of view of Felix Deutsch's sector psychotherapy, which he defines as a therapy 'that most closely resembles psychoanalysis and makes a maximum use of the … clinical experience embodied in … psychoanalytic theories'. He points out that therapy involves more than the ability to listen; the physician must also know how to be active, how to organize and integrate, and how to help the patient to use these functions. Guidance through verbal communication is an essential part of this technique.