Wisdom in the Practice of Psychotherapy by T. Byram Karasu New York:  BasicBooks/HarperCollins, 1992,  xix + 300 pp., $30.00 Leaps Facing Risks in Offering a Constructive Therapeutic Response When Unusual Measures are Necessary by Roy M. Mendelsohn Northvale, NJ:  Jason Aronson, 1991,  xi + 301 pp., $40.00

Since I am concerned about the ever-increasing tendency to homogenize psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and other forms of psychotherapy derived, at least in part, of psychodynamic theory, it is important that readers know which treatment method is being discussed in books reviewed, who the intended

audience is, and what relevance a particular work has for analysts and psychotherapists of different persuasions.

T. Byram Karasu's book focuses on psychotherapy, and, although much of what he has written will be of relevance to psychoanalysts, his intended audience is primarily psychodynamic psychotherapists. (Karasu, an eminent psychiatrist and prolific author, does not identify himself as a psychoanalyst.) Roy Mendelsohn identifies himself as both a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst. His book is not clear as to its intended audience, nor is it particularly clear whether the principles he describes are meant to expand the therapeutic armamentarium of psychodynamic psychotherapists or, as he seems to suggest at times, to broaden the “widening scope” of psychoanalysis proper.

These two books are stimulating and worthy of serious attention. The concepts elucidated in each are based on psychodynamic principles; but, beyond this theoretical underpinning, the books have little in common.

Wisdom is an overview and distillation of Karasu's many years' experience in the conduct and supervision of psychodynamic psychotherapy. It is not so much a primer of psychotherapy as an attempt to articulate and elucidate the principles of psychodynamic psychotherapy, including a discussion of different theoretical orientations, that is, drive theory, ego psychology, self psychology, and object relations.

The book is divided into nine major sections with 48 chapters. The major sections address psychological theories, “patienthood,” the therapeutic setting, the therapeutic relationship, and the treatment process itself. The 48 chapters are elaborations of axioms that serve as chapte