Psychoanalytic Therapy

Book excerpt: First published in 1946, Psychoanalytic Therapy stands as a classic presentation of "brief therapy". The volume, which is based upon nearly six hundred cases, derives from a concerted effort at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis to define the principles that make possible a psychotherapy shorter and more efficient than traditional psychoanalysis and to develop specific techniques of treatment. While taking a psychoanalytic approach, the authors urge the therapist to plan carefully and sensibly to avoid letting every case drift into "interminable" psychoanalysis. They address not only psychiatrists and psychoanalysts, but also psychologists, general physicians, social workers, and "all whose work is closely concerned with human relationships."