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Interpersonal psychoanalysis: New directions.
Book reviews Interpersonal Psychoanalysis: 1978. 150 pp. Price $23.
New Directions.
EARL G. WHITTENBERG (Ed.). Gardiner
213 Press, New York,
THERE are seven contributions to this work. They are all by psychotherapists trained in the Sullivanian tradition of the William Allanson White Institute. Two are of outstanding merit. Edgar Levenson’s contribution “Psychoanalysis-Cure or Persuasion?” 1san elegant, thought-provoking study of linguistic structure in its relationship to psychoanalysis. He brings out the currently important distinction between metaphor and metonymy and describes the process of change in psychoanalysis as a shift from one to the other. A metaphor is consistently true and is not bound to the context of the immediate experience of the participants whose relationship to each other can be described metaphorically. The metonymy adds immediate relevance and depth of affect to an understanding of the immediate situation. This essay is very well worth reading. David Scheter’s contribution “Attachment, Detachment and Psychoanalytic Therapy” is a brilliant review of psycho-dynamic studies of attachment and detachment as developmental processes and defences. Two other contributions are of considerable interest. Tauber’s chapter on sleep and dreams in practice, though not very well written, covers a good deal of ground in a field to which he has contributed with much originality. What is particularly interesting is his belief that “psychotherapy is often the treatment of fugue”. In his experience many patients show subtle but protracted periods of altered states of consciousness and suspects that very subtle shifts between vigilance and N-REM states would be recorded. These are clinical conditions in which the patients present with a kind of detachment which is hidden by plausible interpersonal engagement. I believe that some of the patients whom we are now trying to understand under the rubric of ‘borderline’ patients may come into this category. The other chapter of particular note is that by .I. L. Singer which reviews very comprehensively and clearly the literature on the use of imagery and phantasy process in psychotherapy. This is an easy way to get up to date with some very important material. This book is recommended for psychotherapists who would like to keep in touch with some current sophisticated thinking in American psychotherapy. The chapters on sleep and dreams and on imagery and phantasy processes are probably the most relevant to the fields of psychosomatic medicine. MALCOLM PINES
New Directions.
EARL G. WHITTENBERG (Ed.). Gardiner
213 Press, New York,
THERE are seven contributions to this work. They are all by psychotherapists trained in the Sullivanian tradition of the William Allanson White Institute. Two are of outstanding merit. Edgar Levenson’s contribution “Psychoanalysis-Cure or Persuasion?” 1san elegant, thought-provoking study of linguistic structure in its relationship to psychoanalysis. He brings out the currently important distinction between metaphor and metonymy and describes the process of change in psychoanalysis as a shift from one to the other. A metaphor is consistently true and is not bound to the context of the immediate experience of the participants whose relationship to each other can be described metaphorically. The metonymy adds immediate relevance and depth of affect to an understanding of the immediate situation. This essay is very well worth reading. David Scheter’s contribution “Attachment, Detachment and Psychoanalytic Therapy” is a brilliant review of psycho-dynamic studies of attachment and detachment as developmental processes and defences. Two other contributions are of considerable interest. Tauber’s chapter on sleep and dreams in practice, though not very well written, covers a good deal of ground in a field to which he has contributed with much originality. What is particularly interesting is his belief that “psychotherapy is often the treatment of fugue”. In his experience many patients show subtle but protracted periods of altered states of consciousness and suspects that very subtle shifts between vigilance and N-REM states would be recorded. These are clinical conditions in which the patients present with a kind of detachment which is hidden by plausible interpersonal engagement. I believe that some of the patients whom we are now trying to understand under the rubric of ‘borderline’ patients may come into this category. The other chapter of particular note is that by .I. L. Singer which reviews very comprehensively and clearly the literature on the use of imagery and phantasy process in psychotherapy. This is an easy way to get up to date with some very important material. This book is recommended for psychotherapists who would like to keep in touch with some current sophisticated thinking in American psychotherapy. The chapters on sleep and dreams and on imagery and phantasy processes are probably the most relevant to the fields of psychosomatic medicine. MALCOLM PINES