Dr Chessick uses the metaphor of a television set in order to illustrate Freud's notion of the therapist's unconscious as a receptive organ for the transmitting unconscious of the patient. The therapist listens to the patient's transmissions on five different channels, represented by five orientations, stances, modes, or models, among which the therapist must switch back and forth on the patient's initiative. Furthermore, Dr. Chessick shows how to validate interventions in order to be sure that the therapist has indeed heard correctly. The five channels are: Freud's drive/conflict/defence...

In this unique book, Dr. Richard Chessick asks questions about psychotherapy and answers them. Engaging readers in a dialogue between a senior psychodynamic clinician and novice mental health professionals, one with a particularly medical-biological approach to psychological problems, Dr. Chessick demonstrates how dynamic therapy works and explains the current controversies in the field. Specifically, the discussion--modeled on Galileo's "Dialogues Concerning the Two Chief World Systems"--considers the significance of memories and early experiences, the therapist's input, curative factors,...

Questions assumptions about what it is to be a human being by examining the ideas of thinkers such as Foucault, Winnicott, Lacan and Jaspers. Chessick combines succinct summaries of the writings of these European thinkers with critical commentaries.