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Buildingupon the seminal work, Empathic Attunement: The “Technique” of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology (Rowe & Mac Isaac, 1989), this book constitutes an elaboration of Crayton Rowe's earlier ideas regarding the possibility of a myriad of selfobject needs which can emerge in the psychoanalytic/psychotherapeutic situation. According to the author, when the analyst/therapist recognizes, accepts, and empathically understands such needs, he or she may subsequently generate specific selfobject transference configurations that have not yet been discovered or described. Developing these ideas through ongoing immersion in his patients’ subjective experiences, Rowe is contributing to the continuing evolution of self psychology, both in terms of clinical practice and metapsychological theory. Nevertheless, he emphasizes the importance of remaining firmly grounded in Kohut's tradition of listening to the patient as free from theory as possible, which he regards as a sine qua non for the gradual development of the selfobject transferences, and their transmuting internalization in the form of psychological structure.
Rowe believes that we should remain open to the possibility of identifying new varieties of selfobject transferences as a result of our ongoing clinical experiences. In this publication, he shares with us his own unique contribution, the so-called undifferentiated selfobject experience of unlimited possibilities to be experienced in the future. He also underscores the importance of sustained empathic immersion in the patients’ inner experience, which he sees as essential in order for the undifferentiated selfobject transference to become consolidated. Perhaps Rowe's most valuable contribution, however, is the consistently excellent quality of his clinical material, which not only enables the reader to have a sense of connecting to the patient, but also promotes deep empathic resonance with the moment-to-moment internal experience of the analyst, including how he utili