Individual and Family Therapy: Toward an Integration: By Fred M. Sander, M.D. New York/London: Aronson, 1979. 242 pp.

Reading this well written, lively, complexly textured book, one has the persistent sense of being in the presence of a gifted teacher who is able to weave together a wide range of psychological themes. These are drawn from clinical practice, from psychological and psychoanalytic theory, and from a long-standing familiarity with literature, especially the literature of the theater. One obtains the impression that the author was prevailed upon by admiring students to bring his lectures together into a book. The book skillfully combines an overview of individual psychology and individual psychotherapy, family systems theory and family therapy, and a wide range of timely social and professional issues, including the contemporary trend toward childlessness, communication theory in schizophrenia, and some aspects of the current interest in narcissism.

These perspectives are illustrated and enhanced by references to works of literature, drawn primarily from the theater. Sander has the engaging notion that the theatrical play represents an apt vehicle of choice for the representation of intrafamilial and interpersonal perspectives. In such literary works he sees the early surfacing of certain community concerns and professional advances. For instance, he views T. S. Eliot's The Cocktail Party as a statement of the increasing isolation and instability of the modern family, which presaged the rise of the family therapy movement. Similarly, he explores issues of childlessness and the family life