Resistances and Interventions: the Nature of Therapeutic Work. Robert Langs. New York:  Jason Aronson, 1981,  xv + 784 pp.

Resistances and Interventions is the latest in a series of four volumes on Langs's conception of the fundamental dimensions of therapeutic interaction. Previously he stressed the basics of this interaction in “The Listening Process” ; the ground rules and setting (the therapeutic contract) in “The Therapeutic Environment” ; and the realm of transference and countertransference in their broadest sense in “Interactions” . As a totality these four books constitute his “communicative series” on technique.

Langs addresses one of the major current concerns in the field of psychoanalysis: recognition and appreciation of the analyst's influence upon the communication of the patient's material. As the title of his current book indicates, Langs focuses on the contribution of the analyst to the therapeutic process, not only the contribution to progress towards resolution of neurosis but also towards hindering and impeding therapeutic process.

In appraising the analyst's contributions, Langs advises the analyst not to be limited merely to self-scrutiny and examination of his or her internal processes but to make conscious use of the patient's direct and derivative communications in order to be alert to whether the analyst is helping to create a therapeutic misalliance (p. 284). Langs's view contrasts with the classical one of the analyst's intrapsychic processes which sees countertransferences as phenomena to be removed from the therapeutic experience so that the analyst serves as “screen” or “mirror.” It also contrasts with the stance of other contemporary theorists such as Racker, also a Kleinian, who saw countertransference as a tool to be used on the patient's behalf.

Langs sees countertransference as inevitable and inescapable, and defines it as “… all inappropriate and pathological responses of the therapist to his patient.” (p. 724) Counterresistances are aspects of countertransference which “… create obstacles to the progress of therapeutic work” and are most useful not to