cover image Inside Therapy

Inside Therapy

. St. Martin's Press, $24.95 (291pp) ISBN 978-0-312-18671-5

Those who have been involved in or are contemplating psychotherapy will find this eclectic anthology of writings about the process instructive. Rabinowitz, who reports on psychiatry for the Philadelphia Inquirer, presents excerpts from the published works of pioneers in the field, such as Theodore Reik's Listening with the Third Ear and Robert Lindner's The Fifty-Minute Hour. The overriding emphasis of these practitioners, who regard their calling as an art rather than a science, is on attentive, nonjudgmental listening, a skill that Mark Epstein (""Bare Attention"") relates to Buddhist philosophy. Yalom (Love's Executioner) posits in his foreword that a doctor should devise a therapy for each patient based on a healing relationship that the two create together. Along with the informative case studies provided by therapists that explain the role of transference in the healing process are several excerpts from novels dealing with psychotherapy. Included is a selection by Rafael Yglesias (Dr. Neruda's Cure for Evil) that describes what can happen when a therapist leads rather than listens. Agent, Alex Hoyt. (Aug.)