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Reading this fascinating book is like reading two separate novels at the same time. Such an impression is surprising since the book contains twenty-four of Dr. Searles' scientific papers published between 1951 and 1964. The first major theme is schizophrenia, presented in a rich collection of clinical gems mined from innumerable agonizing hours of intensive psychotherapy with schizophrenic patients.
Dr. Searles considers the following as the major concepts that run through and link these papers: autism and symbiosis; the etiological role and the role in therapy of various feelings; love and hate; the interrelatedness between emotions and ego structure, ego functions, and the technique of psychotherapy; 'non-human' phenomena and the issue of therapist neutrality and feelings concerning change and death; the distinction and interaction between intrapsychic processes and interpersonal processes; and the over-all process of therapy.
The second major, unplanned theme is the story of Dr. Searles himself. While reading these chapters, one observes the emotional growth and development of the therapist-author. One watches him from his early years of work with patients and personal analysis (during which time he struggled valiantly with his feelings of anxiety and ambivalence) to the later years of maturation of increasing comfort with his intense feelings of love and hate. This is best shown in his own words: 'As I have become more and more deeply convinced that I, in keeping with my fellow human beings, am a basically loving