Unusual Interventions

Salman Akhtar, MD, was born in India and completed his medical and psychiatric education there. Upon arriving in the USA in 1973, he repeated his psychiatric training at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and then obtained psychoanalytic training from the Philadelphia Psychoanalytic Institute. Currently, he is Professor of Psychiatry at Jefferson Medical College and a training and supervising analyst at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He has authored, edited or co-edited more than 300 publications including books on psychiatry and psychoanalysis and several collections of poetry. He is also a Scholar-in-Residence at the Inter-Act Theatre Company in Philadelphia. Salman Akhtar received the Sigourney Award in 2012.

'This book is a godsend to those of us who view psychotherapy not as an orthodox technique but an art of the open mind and learned heart. Notions of "standard practice" are useful to therapists, especially early in our careers, but even more valuable are opportunities to learn how seasoned practitioners think, how they may translate their understanding of a person's suffering into creative exceptions to good general rules. In the heyday of psychoanalysis, a "classical" technique was idealized, sometimes whether or not the patient was helped. A current parallel to this elevation of means over ends is the pressure on clinicians of all orientations to manualize our work - as if one size should fit all regardless of a patient's unique personality or context. In this welcome volume, nine seasoned therapists describe clinical challenges that called for an exceptional response. Beginning practitioners will find inspiration in their honest, creative, and humane accounts. Experienced therapists, who will recognize the struggle that goes into the occasional throwing out of the rulebook, will find Unusual Interventions compelling and confirming.'- Nancy McWilliams, PhD, Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied & Professional Psychology

• Introduction , Alterations of the Frame , Making extraordinary monetary arrangements , Conducting the treatment outside the office , Changing the frequency, length, and timing of sessions , Alterations of the Method , Refusing to listen to certain kinds of material , Giving advice 1 , Interpreting in the form of action , Alterations of the Relationship , Talking about oneself , Touching the patient , Giving mementos and gifts to the patient