111 Common therapeutic blunders

edited by Gerald Schoenewolf, Northvale, NJ, Jason Aronson, 2005, 246 pp.

I enjoyed reading this book. In the Preface of this, the second edition, Gerald Schoenewolf relates the history behind the rather frivolous-sounding title as being a serious and ambitious attempt to explore counter-transference and counter-resistance errors in therapy. The first edition of this book apparently became an instant success and the new edition with new chapters on different aspects of counter-transferences was felt to be necessary to reflect ‘new situations created by the increased diversity of patients and the intrusion of insurance companies into the therapy equation’.

He goes on to define counter-transference and counter-resistance, emphasizing his use of the terms in an attempt to make them inclusive of all of the therapist's feelings, thoughts or impulses about a patient and counter-resistance for all instances in which the therapist acts out on such feelings whether or not they are induced by the patient. He also discusses objective and subjective aspects of counter-transference and counter-resistance.

One of the things that is immediately apparent in reading this book, is the ease and simplicity of the material. The vignettes are short, to the point and interspersed with aspects of theory which relate to the clinical material being discussed. They are also frequently amusing and gently entertaining. After going through the book one has a sense of a ‘manual of methods’, such as those so popular with some of the other therapeutic disciplines within psychotherapy. This feels like a strength, which would make it of use to both supervisees and supervisors. This would be a useful and accessible inclusion on a reading list for trainee therapists to remind them of the continuing nature of enquiry which is so essential in clinical work in psychoanalysis, but also very much in the ongoing investigation of the therapist's internal world, without which therapy becomes simply an intellectu