Synopsis
In this landmark work on object relations, Dr. Jill Savage Scharff addresses the psychological processes of projective and introjective identification and countertransference. She carefully traces the debates about projective identification_the neurotic versus psychotic arguments and the intrapsychic versus interpersonal views. She holds that disagreements stem from unrecognized shifts in meaning of the term identification and unacknowledged differences of opinion as to where the identification takes place. For her, projective identification is an umbrella term for phenomena that can affect the self, the object inside the self, and the external object. Dr. Scharff brings fresh insight to the neglected concept of introjective identification and a new understanding of the therapeutic action of projective and introjective identification. The book's unique distinction is in the author's integration of object relations theory and practice, particularly with regard to the handling of countertransference. The clinical material is written in the vivid and personally candid style that is a hallmark of her work. Dr. Scharff demonstrates how to understand and utilize projective and introjective identification, making this work indispensable for every dynamically oriented therapist.
Review
Most welcome of all for the reader is Dr. Scharff's ability to write with both liveliness and clarity. Her admirably scholarly review of relevant literature is distilled, for the reader, in readily understandable terms, as she enables us to follow the development of her authentically original views concerning projective and introjective identification_views based in part on the contributions of earlier writers, but in larger part on her own clinical experiences with patients in diverse treatment settings. Dr. Jill Scharff is an immensely creative clinician and writer who will, I am sure, illuminate other readers' lives and work as she has illuminated, for me, my own life and work.--Harold Searles
By demonstrating how she uses the concepts of projective and introjective identification in her own work, Dr. Scharff has enlarged our vision and has enriched our understanding of the therapeutic process. A scholarly text, a teaching guide, a casebook for practitioners, this is a unique work that should be read by students and experienced therapists alike.--Theodore Jacobs, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Jill Scharff provides ample and detailed descriptions of her use of countertransference experience in the understanding of therapeutic interaction and formulation of interpretations and other therapeutic interventions. It is only in the rare instance that there are countertransference data of the sort provided by Scharff that it is possible to portray and analyze the moment-to-moment experience of being with a patient. I consider this book to be a major contribution to the analytic understanding of the therapeutic process . . .--Thomas Ogden, MD, The Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California
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