This text presents the work of Ester Menaker. Never a follower of a particular psychoanalytic perspective of dogma, she always questioned the prevailing orthodoxy. The result is a self psychological perspective that focuses on striving for creativity and relatedness.

This collection of essays on psychoanalytical thought represents Esther Menaker's emphasis on the individual's self-esteem as reflected in the ego-ideal and the sense of identity. These papers centre on three vital issues: masochism, identification and the social process, and creativity."

Originally published in 1989 as Appointment in Vienna, Esther Menaker's Misplaced Loyalties is a fascinating memoir covering five years of student life in Vienna during the early years of the psychoanalytic movement started by Sigmund Freud. It begins in 1930, when, full of high expectations, the author and her husband left their native America and eagerly embarked on an exhilarating journey that would take them to Austria, where they were to become candidates at the Psychoanalytic Institute.