cover image Talk Is Not Enough: How Psychotherapy Really Works

Talk Is Not Enough: How Psychotherapy Really Works

Willard Gaylin, M. D. Willard Gaylin. Little Brown and Company, $30 (332pp) ISBN 978-0-316-30308-8

In an attempt to provide insight into the basic principles underlying disparate theories of mental functioning and the treatment of personality disorders, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Gaylin (Feelings, etc.), cofounder of the Hastings Center, focuses mainly on the psychoanalytic method. He contends that techniques such as free association and dream interpretation, the investigation of the way past experiences affect present behaviors, and the analysis of defense mechanisms together facilitate the treatment of character neuroses and disorders. Further, any effective treatment relies on the relationship between patient and therapist as a means to allow the patient to reconnect with the emotions underlying relationships with other people. Gaylin argues persuasively that in the effort to change behavior, intellectual insight (what he calls ""knowledge"") alone cannot galvanize the motivational factors necessary for successful therapy: ""a direct quantitative relationship between knowing the good and doing the good does not exist."" Writing for the general reader, he relies on a collection of anecdotes rather than on statistical data to illustrate the potential for treating psychological suffering through talking about it. While Gaylin's argument may not move those who are convinced that the best ""cure"" for mental distress and the best method for changing behavior by way of emotion lies in drug treatment, those interested in seeking psychotherapy should find insight in his book. (Mar.)