Sheppard details the hazards of psychoanalytic practice for the analyst. These hazards include “the inevitable disillusionment” with insight as a means by which to attain internal peace (p. 254). Such disillusionment can lead to dogmatic attitudes or to an opening up to “the unknowability of the unconscious” (p. 254).

Sheppard argues that, in addition to safeguards mentioned by other authors—e.g., analysis, self-analysis, supervision, and society

membership—we also need the safeguard of “an analytic friend who comprehends the significance of the intrinsic pain of psychoanalytic work” (p. 255). Such a friend knows that “our truths must be being demolished all the time with the faith that they will be found again, in perhaps better forms—yesterday's interpretation won't do today” (p. 162). Such a friend “keeps us honest” and helps us “keep trying the impossible” (p. 262), because being “with people who have all the answers is debilitating” (p. 258).