Main description:

Strong emphasis on the realities of psychoanalytic clinical work * Written in clear, accessible language * Includes analysis of key psychoanalytic writers such as Thomas Ogden.

Contents:

Introduction: What is This, Who Am I, and Why Should You Care? Part One: With Whom Do We Do What We Do? 1. Neurosis as a Way of Thinking: the Syntax of Unconscious Oedipal Thought 2. The Syntax of Oedipal Thought in the Case of Little Hans 3. The Third Wish: Some Thoughts on Using Magic Against Magic 4. Perverse Syntax and the Perverse Attitude toward Reality 5. Reality Testing in Perverse Organization 6. The Object-Preserving Function of Sadomasochism 7. Inventing Oneself: The Effort toward Self-Cure in a Psychotic Woman 8. Neurotic, Perverse, and Psychotic Action Part Two: What Do We Do When We Do What We Do? 9. The Syntax of the Presenting Complaint 10. An Observation on Naming and Language 11. The Analyst's Influence 12. What the Analyst does not Hear 13. Analytic Technique: A Reconsideration of the Concept Part Three: Empathy and Countertransference 14. Empathy and "Countertransference" 15. The Person in the Analyst's Chair Part Four: Acting and Reflecting 16. In and Out of the Frame: Moving Between Experience and Reflection 17. Play in Analysis Coda: Writing about Analytic Writing 18. Reading Ogden Reading Winnicott 19. The Duration of Analysis: A Contribution to the Discussion 20. A Desultory Excursion into New Developments in Psychoanalysis The Last Word