Psychoanalytic Craft

Laurence Spurling is Senior Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck College, UK, with overall responsibility for the counselling and psychotherapy programmes at Birkbeck. He is also a consultant adult psychotherapist and works in private practice as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist. He is the author / editor of six previous books, including An Introduction to Psychodynamic Counselling, now in its second edition.

'This fascinating window into everyday analytic work makes compelling reading for practitioners in their various roles: as assessors, therapists, supervisors - and patients. Destined to be essential reading for all self-scrutinising psychoanalytic and counselling training programmes.' - Prof Jeremey Holmes MD FRCPsych, University of Exeter, UK

• IntroductionPART I:OBSTACLES TO DEVELOPMENT1. The Developing Practitioner2. What Gets Missed out in Analytic Accounts3. The Babelization of Psychoanalytic Language4. Why Theory Does Not Inform PracticePART II: PSYCHOANALYTIC PRACTICE AS A FORM OF CRAFT5. TheCraft Metaphor6. Analytic "Rules" and Craft Practice7. Counter-transference and Containment RevisitedPART III: DESCRIBING THE CRAFT: EXAMPLES FROM PRACTICE8. A Session from an Intensive Therapy9. Two Sessions from a Brief TherapyPART IV: Developing the Craft: Examples from Clinical Discussion, Supervision and Teaching10. Thinking about Interventions: An Example from a Clinical Discussion Group11. How Working Models Inform Practice: An Example from a Supervision Group12. Developing One's Own Way of Working: An Example from TeachingConcluding Remarks