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The title of Dr. Friedman's book is a little misleading, for his subject is really about psychoanalysis and psychoanalysts. I suspect he decided to use the term psychotherapy in its most literal sense, not as a mode of treatment, and what he is anatomizing is the psychoanalytic process. One can, with impunity, substitute psychoanalysis as one reads because all his source material, as well as his stance, is psychoanalytic.
What is a little unusual is that, in describing what he sees as the essentials of the psychoanalytic interaction, his lens remains trained on the analysis, rather than on the patient, especially the experience of the analyst. The reader will be more accurately oriented to the questions Dr. Friedman poses if he understands the author's aims and approach.
Dr. Friedman's book gives evidence of his having thought long and hard about the psychoanalytic treatment situation. His familiarity with what others have written about the subject is clear. His approach is essentially historical. He compensates for the absence of his own clinical material by illustrating points he wishes to make through the writings of his predecessors. This method is informative and illuminating but carries with it the same pitfalls that accompany using direct clinical data; for instead of drawing inferences from what a patient has said or done, Dr. Friedman draws inferences from what analysts have written. After telling us, for instance, what he thinks lay behind Winnicott's concept of the holding environment, he concludes with a