The rich and extensively presented clinical material in this book reflects the dedication and skill of a gifted therapist. However, in this reviewer's opinion at least, some of the theoretical sections reflect the epistemological and conceptual confusions of the drive and structural (ego) models from which Jacobson derives her methodology.

The book is divided into two parts. Part One initially discusses the phenomena of affect, mood, children's laughter, and the comic experience. A review and critical analysis of the psychoanalytic literature on denial, repression, depersonalization, and the depressive state are followed by Jacobson's personal synthesis of this material. Part Two consists of a comparative study of affective disorders. In an appendix, valuable long-term follow-up material of an anecdotal nature is