Intricate Engagements: The Collaborative Basis of Therapeutic Change (The Library of Object Relations) - Softcover

Frankel, Steven A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765700239 ISBN 13: 9780765700230

Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc., 2004

Synopsis

In this fine book, Dr. Steven A. Frankel paints the portraits of his collaborating patients vividly, graphically and with consummate compassion. Treatment for Frankel is never a discussion and surely not one filled with the therapist's abstinence; it is a vital, interactive and changing experience for both partners. He is no less skillful in engaging and educating the reader. His review of psychoanalytic theories and research is, in itself, a prodigious and productive education. It is tempting to suggest that this important contribution to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy is one illustration of theory finally catching up to sensitive and effective practice. Frankel closes his lovely book with thanks to the reader 'for coming on this part of my journey.' Shirley Cooper, L.C.S.W.

About this title

Review:

This is a very impressive book. It addresses the current state of foment in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and offers a new conceptualization of the workings of psychotherapeutic technique and process. Dr. Frankel's unique approach, candor, thoughtfulness, and creativity emphatically capture one's interest and stimulate one's own thinking. This well-researched and thoughtful volume makes an important and timely contribution to our still-evolving understanding of analytic treatment.--Calvin Settlage, M.D.

In this fine book, Dr. Frankel paints the portraits of his collaborating patients vividly, graphically, and with consummate compassion. Treatment for Frankel is never a discussion and surely not one filled with the therapist's abstinence; it is a vital, interactive, and changing experience for both partners. He is no less skillful in engaging and educating the reader. His review of psychoanalytic theories and research is, in itself, a prodigious and productive education. It is tempting to suggest that this important contribution to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy is one illustration of theory finally catching up to sensitive and effective practice. Frankel closes his lovely book with thanks to the reader 'for coming on this part of my journey.' My response: 'Please add further trips and invite me along!'--Shirley Cooper, LCSW

Intricate Engagements is a fascinating, highly readable account of an analyst's efforts to confront the fundamental assumptions upon which more than twenty years of psychoanalytically informed work have been based. This is a courageous undertaking and Frankel takes the reader step by step through the intellectual and emotional processes that underlie this enterprise. He begins by actively engaging with literature on the analytic process and on early development. This is no mere review of the literature; rather, it is a creative act of confronting, organizing, and interpreting a very wide range of analytic thought and empirical study. Intricate Engagements represents new ways of conceptualizing the analytic encounter, but the book is most importantly an illustration of a form of analytic integrity that is based on the willingness of the author to open to self-questioning every aspect of the analytic experience.--Thomas H. Ogden, M.D.

From the Back Cover:

Intricate Engagements confronts a fundamental challenge of contemporary psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. At each clinical moment psychotherapists are flooded with possibilities. To manage this situation they often take refuge in preconceived ideas about psychology and change. Intricate Engagements helps therapists find their way through and out of this maze. Dr. Frankel shows how to chart a course through the moment-to-moment uncertainty of the therapeutic situation in a way that maintains the compelling immediacy and often terrifying intimacy required for two people to influence one another. As Dr. Frankel demonstrates in a wide-ranging review, the major psychoanalytic theories conflict too much on key points to provide sufficient direction. Research in the field is rudimentary. However, by assessing and comparing these sources, consulting the literature on child development, and undertaking an extensive retrospective study of his own clinical work, Dr. Frankel is able to construct an alternative model. His theory pictures the mind as consisting of semi-autonomous relationship units with closely linked internalized and current dimensions. Its recommendations for technique emphasize the limitations of a therapist's knowledge and the collaborative effort that is required to move beyond it. Therapist and patient work together to identify a path toward understanding and change. Overall, Dr. Frankel describes a rich, practical, and flexible framework from which to initiate the profound transformation in both patient and therapist that is the goal of psychotherapeutic work.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc.
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0765700239
• ISBN 13: 9780765700230
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288