PSYCHOANALYTIC COUPLE THERAPY

Throughout their long and distinguished career, Dr. David Scharff and Dr. Jill Savege Scharff have pioneered the field of couple and family psychoanalysis, in addition to their many contributions to the fields of individual psychoanalysis and psychosexual therapy. Not only have the Scharffs broken new ground by mapping out the field in both an expansive and a detailed manner, but they have accomplished the impossible by producing a brace of books and chapters and essays not only for the experienced clinician but, also, for the fledgling trainee. As dedicated, longstanding practitioners and educators, the Scharffs know how to write for a multiplicity of audiences, and they do so brilliantly. Reference works in the mental health field frequently adopt a very pedestrian, or even condescending, style, reducing complex and nuanced ideas into simple formulae, but this carefully prepared and lovingly edited tome avoids all of those traditional pitfalls. In spite of the fact that all twenty of the expert contributors have a wealth of clinical experience in the couple psychoanalytical arena, none write in a stodgy or bombastic style; therefore, one derives great pleasure from reading this book, in spite of its potential heft. Perhaps the great approachability and accessibility of this text derives from the fact that all of the authors know such a great deal about the creation of partnerships, not least the partnership between a writer and a reader. Indeed, in their “Preface and Acknowledgements”, the Scharffs refer to their audience as “fellow travellers” (p. xvi)—an editorial state of mind which characterises the twenty-nine chapters and the “Epilogue” which follow, covering every stage of the treatment process from assessment to termination.