Diversity and Direction in Psychoanalytic Technique

New diversity in psychoanalytic technique offers analysts and therapists a wide array of treatment options. But many of these techniques, says Dr. Fred Pine, can be viewed as additions to a clinician’s approach rather than substitutes. Access to more treatment choices enables the clinician to better meet the multiple challenges encountered daily in a psychoanalytic practice. Dr. Pine urges clinicians to be flexible and integrative as they select, test, and then use or reject diverse treatment techniques, and he shows how this may be done. He warns that adhering too closely to a powerful theory of technique can prevent the therapist from doing the best for the patient.

This book is both a highly personal statement by an experienced clinician and teacher and a concise discussion of selected issues that confront the practicing psychoanalyst today. Focusing specifically on technique, the volume is rich in clinical reasoning, clinical concepts, and clinical examples. The author establishes some of the sources of the current diversity in technique, then illustrates and evaluates some of the many pathways the clinician may choose. Practicing psychoanalysts and therapists will find enrichment in the intellectual searchings and open-minded approach of this valuable book.