Transforming Lives: Analyst and Patient View the Power of Psychoanalytic Treatment

People's lives can be dramatically transformed by psychoanalysis. Yet the decision to undertake this enterprise can seem so formidable that many deny themselves an extraordinary experience. This book makes that decision - admittedly a complex one - better informed, clearer, and easier. It provides seven detailed case reports, easy to read and free of technical jargon, in which the patients' lives -in their own judgements - were transformed. This is not meant to imply that psychoanalysis always or even usually yields transformative results. These case studies are intriguing in their own right and help the reader think knowledgeably about psychoanalysis and assess its potential as a life-changing enterprise.

Henry J. Friedman, M.D., is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Part-time, on the Editorial Boards of Psychoanalytic Quarterly, American Journal of Psychoanalysis, and the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, with main interests in the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis and analytic psychotherapy. Friedman is also Chair of the “Meet the Author” at the Biannual Meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association.