Principles of Interpretation

A systematic introduction to interpretation as a technical therapeutic skill.

The writing is clear, concise, and confident. The book's tone and content effectively make the author's point that psychotherapy is a powerful instrument which requires self-discipline, knowledge, no mean intellectual effort, and considerable technical skill, in addition to the therapist's sympathetic and considerate attitude. Beginning therapists will feel constructively challenged by this message and by the author's criticism of experiential and humanistic approaches for their antitechnical and antitheoretical biases. The book's organization broadly follows the phases of therapy with systematic discussions of the data to be understood, transference, resistance, countertransference, the therapeutic alliance, and special problems. A concluding chapter discusses general principles of interpretation, working through, and timing. A valuable feature is the author's annotated list of suggested readings at the end of each chapter., The book's greatest strength is the author's concept of the role of interpretation in the therapeutic process. He demonstrates his thinking at the level of clinical theory, both in providing generalizations and in supporting them with unusually apt clinical vignettes. Most impressive is the author's empathy and sensitivity, both to patients and to beginning therapists, conveyed repeatedly in matters of tone and style, humane without being weak or watered down., [A] small gem. . . . It is accessible, short, well-written, and entirely relevant for someone who wants to learn what to say, and how to say it, in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Steven T. Levy, M.D., is Bernard C. Holland Professor and chief of psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.