Insight and Interpretation: The Essential Tools of Psychoanalysis

Insight and interpretation, the crucial tools of the psychoanalytic process, are no longer treated with the respect they deserve. In psychoanalytic literature the focus has shifted towards the effects of countertransference and its role in the relationship between patient and analyst. By the same token, the equally important question of the analyst's neutrality is regularly misunderstood and discredited.

Roy Schafer explains, in his typically lucid and even-handed approach, how these new shifts in contemporary psychoanalysis have often resulted in conceptual imbalance and erratic technique. His goal, however, is not to reject these recent contributions but rather to integrate them into a more cohesive understanding of the psychoanalytic process.

Taken together, these essays will prove invaluable to analysts trying to maintain an articulated and rounder view of what it takes to bring meaning to their patient's lives through the power of insight and beneficial interpretations.

Roy Schafer, Ph.D. has held professorships at Yale and Cornell medical schools. He is currently a training and supervising analyst at Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research and is in private practice in New York City.