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This short book (172 pages, plus index) is Volume 8 of the Psychoanalytic Inquiry Book Series. It is dedicated to the memory of
Heinz Kohut. All or portions of five of the eight chapters were previously published elsewhere. This does not result in any sense of fragmentation, however, because of the single-mindedness with which the authors reach the same formulation in each chapter, no matter the starting point, and because of good editing.
The book is written from the vantage point of self psychology, which, usefully or not, and with validity or not, is distinguished in much of the psychoanalytic literature from the mainstream of psychoanalysis as it has evolved in the thinking and writing of those who regard themselves as adhering to the tenets of Sigmund Freud. This reviewer identifies himself as a member of the latter category, a position modified to the extent that he has followed the burgeoning literature on self psychology, albeit from a distance.
The authors' aim, as they state in the preface, is to "apply our intersubjective approach to a broad array of clinical issues and problems that are critical in the practice of psychoanalytic therapy" (p. ix). And this they do. However, it is my opinion that there is little of substance for psychoanalysts as a result of the authors' efforts, for the reasons outlined below.
The authors express their belief (p. ix) that the central explanatory construct guiding psychoanalytic theory, research, and treatment is the concept of an intersubjective field. In fact, they state that the only matter that is relevant to psychoanalysis is what arises in the intersubjective field in analysis, i.e., in the space/time created by the relationship between analyst and patient. They indicate that the locus of pathology and health is the intersubjective field and that the patient has no pathology except as it emerges in the intersubjective field.
In coordination with the traditional psychoanalytic assumption that psychological diffi