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It is rare enough to come across a new psychoanalytically-based theory of psychopathology and psychotherapy. It is rarer still to encounter a program of empirical research on any psychoanalytic topic, let alone one that employs clinical case material from a bona fide psychoanalysis. Weiss and Sampson's project has accomplished this and more: The authors have tied their theory of psychopathology to notions of what fosters therapeutic progress and have then taken the unusual step of testing these ideas systematically and scientifically. Their book will appeal especially to those who are receptive to a cognitively oriented psychoanalytic approach and who advocate more informed, scientifically rigorous psychoanalytic research.
Weiss and Sampson's theory is based on the ego psychology of Freud and his followers, such as Kris, Hartmann, Rapaport, and Sandler. It is grounded particularly in what the authors call “the higher mental functioning” hypothesis (HMF), which postulates that people can exert some control over their unconscious mental life, including their repressed beliefs. The authors refer to Freud's later work, in which he “assigned a much greater part to those agencies of the mind that are acquired by learning from experience, that think and anticipate, make decisions and plans, and direct criticism against the self” (p. 31). This may be contrasted with Freud's “automatic functioning hypothesis” (AF) which proposed that unconscious mental life is regulated by the pleasure principle, which functions automatically without regard for thought, belief, or reality. Whereas the AF hypothesis emphasizes wishfulfilling