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In the very first sentence of his preface Dr. Eissler asks himself whether or not he has written an angry book. Although he decides that he has not written in anger, it is likely that many of Eissler's colleagues will be angry with him. It is rare that a volume with serious scientific intent is as specifically critical and even derogatory toward so many professional colleagues as is Eissler in this book. His main target is the late Franz Alexander, and he has gone so far as to compare various editions of Alexander's books to show how he changed words and phrases to suit the tenor of the times in which he was writing. Of course, Eissler's main criticism of Alexander concerns the substance of his views on psychoanalytic treatment.
Eissler documents his disagreements with such a large host of his fellows that the entire book takes on the cast of an extended polemic against contemporary psychoanalysts. He is also particularly sensitive to certain attacks against Freud, which have been brought by persons whose names are barely known in the psychoanalytic community, and he devotes whole chapters to item by item refutations of criticisms that hardly deserve to be dignified by a response.
Eissler's main argument is directed against what he terms “medical analysis.” It is necessary to put this term in quotes because Eissler means by medical analysis that form of psychoanalytic endeavor which is primarily oriented toward a therapeutic goal. He inveighs particularly against altering psychoanalytic technique in the interest of focussing upon symptoms, shortening the length of treatment or lessening the demands made upon the psychoanalyst. Such practicalities seem to Eissler to have resulted from the undue influence of a medical orientation, as well as certain cultural factors, and he therefore terms psychoanalysis that is therapeutically oriented as “medical,” whether or not the practitioner is a physician. On the one hand, Eissler allows that certain medically trained analysts m