Power Games: Influence, Persuasion and Indoctrination in Psychotherapy Training. Edited by Richard Raubolt. New York:  Other Press, 2006,  352 pp.

The individual who enters the transformational space of psychoanalytic learning can find himself or herself negotiating extremes of structure and chaos. The stability of reason can easily become co-opted by the

shackles of greed, passion, aggression, manipulation, and the misuse of power. Many of the contributors to this edited collection have negotiated this terrain, and in this collection tell about it poignantly, passionately, and with the cogent voices of confident authority that only personal experience can evoke. For better or for worse, the contributors tolerated this transformational journey and openly share their experiences and insights with the goal of facilitating an easier journey for those who follow. In this regard, this collection is experiential and speculative: experiential in its candid expression of lived truth, speculative in offering creative and thoughtful alternatives to address the problems that can develop during training through the inappropriate use of power, influence, or manipulation. Regarding the relationship between personal experience and theory, Marty Livingston notes that “psychoanalytic theory always reflects personal experience” (p. 83). In his discussion of the first section of this collection, Livingston notes the contributors “write to continue their healing process.” He adds balance to the cautionary tales in this collection by elaborating on both the negative and the positive aspects of charisma (p. 89).

The book is divided into three sections, beginning with personal reflections on supervisory experiences, followed by a section on theoretical considerations, and a final section on supervisory alternatives. This is a carefully sequenced collection of thought-provoking articles. I could easily respond in depth to each contribution. However, given the limitations of a book review, I would like to respond to a representative sampling that conveys the general spirit and content of the collection.

Each personal reflection poses