The Reconstruction of Trauma: Its Significance in Clinical Work. Workshop Series of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Monograph 2: Edited by Arnold Rothstein, M.D. Madison, CT: International Universities Press, Inc., 1986. 268 pp.

To borrow liberally from computer vernacular, The Reconstruction of Trauma is "reader friendly." Everything about the book is "reader friendly"—its organization, its format, its extensive bibliography, even the print size and the length of the text. This second monograph in the Workshop Series of The American Psychoanalytic Association is an exceptional book adaptation of discussions that took place during a two-day Workshop for Mental Health Professionals. Its significance as a contribution to the literature resides in its bringing together in one volume a variety of conceptualizations and theoretical views of psychic trauma and its reconstruction.

The body of the book is divided into three sections: "Theoretical Considerations" (three chapters), "The Reconstruction of Specific Traumata" (eight chapters), and "Discussion" (three chapters). The book closes with a summary of "The Spontaneous Discussion" among the panelists and an excellent bibliography.

In the Introduction, Rothstein discusses the contributors' different theoretical orientations. He wonders if the differences in their points of view actually contribute to significant differences in the way they treat their patients. He asks them a number of questions intended to facilitate the development of their contributions.

(1) How did your organizing theory influence your thinking on the subject of reconstruction of trauma in your work with the patient? … (2) In those subjects who experienced shock trauma, how had previous strain trauma shaped the child's reactions to the shockingly traumatic event? … (3) How did the developmental task in progress at the time of the trauma influence the subject's experience of it? … (4) What effect did the trauma have on the child's character development and the resulting clinical pictures? … (5) Did you encounter clinical material of the type Greenacre suggested? … (6) Finally, what did you seek to accomplish with your reconstruction? (p. 3).

Harold Blum, Sidney F