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Readers interested in the subject of psychoanalysis have always had the unenviable task of plodding through a sea of theoretical jargon that is laden with controversy, obfuscation, confusion, and, unfortunately, on too many occasions opacity. One soon yearns for those precious moments of clarity, relevance, and meaningfulness that was characteristic of the writings of the early pioneers in psychoanalysis, beginning with Freud himself. This problem arises, in part, because of the dichotomy between the theoretician and the clinician. Obviously, there are some exceptional persons who excel at verbally expressing both sides of the therapeutic “coin,” but the majority of practitioners have not been too successful in stating their theoretical position clearly and logically and then subjecting it to validation with relevant and sufficient clinical case material. We often find ourselves skimming through the theory, anxiously awaiting the more interesting case study.
Once in a while, there appears a book that is almost all of a clinical nature. Such a book is that of Pietro Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who is the James G. Blakemore Professor of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Training and Supervising Analyst in the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute. The book consists of a selection from all his previously published writings, which cover the vast area of clinical psychiatry and psychoanalysis. It is divided into three sections: psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and psychosomatic medicine. It's conclusion, which is new, is a lovely autobiographical note on the role of the psychoanalyst in the city of Nashville, Tennessee.
My feelings about this book can only be conceptualized and expressed in superlative terms. I do not personally know the author,