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This book is not just another volume on marriage. It is the outgrowth of years of clinical experience in conjunction with solid psychoanalytic training. The authors have produced a comprehensive, well written treatise on the subject of marriage and personal development.
The general assumptions in this book derive from ego psychology, and specifically from Erikson's dictum that development is an ongoing, lifelong process. The marriage counselor, who recognizes that marital difficulties are based upon faulty personal developmental features, finds himself in a better position to treat a “sick” marriage.
The authors discuss sex and aggression, symbiosis and separation-individuation, object relations, internalization and defense in marriage and divorce. They employ vivid case material in order to illustrate these topics and to demonstrate their effects upon marriage difficulties. These analyses are followed by demonstrations of how such insights can be used successfully in therapy.
Chapter 9, on technical and diagnostic considerations in marital counseling, is especially recommended to all psychoanalytic practitioners who require specific information on marriage counseling per se. A “developmental psychogram,” a comprehensive bibliography, and an index round out this worthwhile volume.