Introduction to Psychotherapy. An Outline of Psychodynamic Principles and Practice. By Dennis Brown & Jonathan Pedder.  Second edition. Routledge. £9.99. Pp  238.

This is the expanded and updated second edition of a well-known book which, to my shame, I had never before read. I had assumed, wrongly, that it was a guide or instruction manual for fledgling psychotherapists. In fact, it is aimed at a stage just before this, being ‘meant as a brief and simple introductory overview to the many forms of dynamic psychotherapy and their origins in and links with psychoanalysis.’

This modest statement of intent is easily fulfilled by the authors. Indeed, the overview provided by the book is impressive in its depth, as well as its breadth. The emphasis, however, remains on overview, and orientation to the context of psychodynamic theories and practices, both in a historical sense and in relation to the variety of approaches which are practised within modern mental health services. The reader is guided through this more general experience of orientation to a more specific understanding of the different approaches that could be described as psychodynamic.

A good deal of the book's content involves description of what is central to, and characteristic of, psychoanalytic therapy. This again comprises orientation to theory and therapeutic stance, rather than an attempt to teach psychotherapy theory and technique in any systematic way, and I can imagine the flavour that is conveyed