Product Description

In simple, jargon-free language, Herbert Schlesinger sets out to demystify technique, to show how it is based on basic principles that are applicable both to psychoanalysis and to the psychotherapies that derive from it. He has little need for conventional theory; rather, he reframes essential analytic notions - transference, resistance, interpretation, regression, empathy - as processes and assigns technique the goal of promoting the patient's activity within the treatment situation. The aim of the analytic therapist is to restore to the patient active control of his own life.

Utilizing basic premises of systems theory, Schlesinger approaches personality and neurosis alike as self-stabilizing systems that can be changed only with persistent effort. Follow-up interpretations that address the patient's responses to previous interpretations are crucial. Similarly, the analyst views the transference as rules of behavior the patient has created that limit the freedom of both parties in the treatment. Interpretation speaks to the patient's inability to make full use of the freedom the analytic situation affords to explore how his mind works. Viewing neuroses as what the patient does, rather than what he has, the analyst sees the resisting patient not as opposing the treatment but rather doing what the patient feels he must do both to accommodate to the demands of the script of an unconscious fantasy and to provide for his own sense of safety.

Beautifully illustrated with clinical vignettes and everyday social experiences, The Texture of Treatment is a lucid and engaging presentation of the principles Schlesinger has taught to successive generations of psychiatric residents, clinical psychology interns, clinical social work students, and psychoanalytic candidates. Taking up elementary matters from an advanced point of view, he has produced a contemporary text whose appeal to seasoned clinicians will be no less that its usefulness to beginning therapists.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62197 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review

Herb Schlesinger has given us a most wonderful gift: the distilled experience of one of the giants of our profession, integrating theory and technique into a meticulously crafted and profoundly thoughtful guide to practice. He has written the book that is the closest we have to a definitive manual of psychoanalysis. It is an essential read for anyone who has the ambition to practice psychoanalytic therapy, which includes most of us beginners and the so-called experienced practitioner.

- Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London

Writing authoritatively about psychoanalytic technique while retaining a rapier wit and sense of joy is no mean feat, and Schlesinger achieves it superbly well. He has a genius for presenting the most sophisticated and compllex concepts in straightforward language. His descriptions of the system of neurosis maintenence and the process of doing psychoanalysis are unsurpassed. Reading The Texture of Treatment is like having at ones side a great supervisor who anticipates questions and dilemmas and provides guidance that is encouraging and stimulating. Schlesingers convivial style only thinly disguises the depth, brilliance, and rigor of his presentation. One can open this book to any chapter and find distilled wisdom, new insights, and practical help with difficult problems.

- Arnold M. Cooper, M.D., Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

The word texture suggests warp and woof, process and outcome, science and art, densities appreciated better by sensory processes than by formal thought. The texture of psychoanalytic experience can seem inexpressible, even ineffabel. But somehow, in clear and unpretentious language, Herbert Schlesinger conveys it. Organized here are inferences from a lifetime of passionate immersion in, and disciplined reflection on, psychotherapy, informed by the author’s incisive intelligence, irreverent wit, and warm heart. Although wisdom is an elusive term, this book is palpably suffused with it.

- Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., Rutgers University

The Texture of Treatment is relatively jargon-free, and has a hands-on, commonsensical, and practical tone. There is a unified and user-friendly quality that reflects the authors understated but authoritative presence and personal style. Schlesingers humble protestations to the contrary, however, the book is an elegant, sophisticated, and artful contemporary textbook of psychoanalytic technique. The construction of the book seems rather ingenious and logical. Schlesingers individuality, integrity, and wit enliven every principle he espouses. The book has already become invaluable in my work with students and supervisees. I highly recommend it.

- Gerald I. Fogel, M.D., JAPA 53, 2005

Review

"Herb Schlesinger has given us a most wonderful gift: the distilled experience of one of the giants of our profession, integrating theory and technique into a meticulously crafted and profoundly thoughtful guide to practice.  He has written the book that is the closest we have to a definitive manual of psychoanalysis.  It is an essential read for anyone who has the ambition to practice psychoanalytic therapy, which includes most of us beginners and the so-called experienced practitioner."

- Peter Fonagy, Ph.D., Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London

"Writing authoritatively about psychoanalytic technique while retaining a rapier wit and sense of joy is no mean feat, and Schlesinger achieves it superbly well.  He has a genius for presenting the most sophisticated and compllex concepts in straightforward language.  His descriptions of the system of neurosis maintenence and the process of doing psychoanalysis are unsurpassed.  Reading The Texture of Treatment is like having at one's side a great supervisor who anticipates questions and dilemmas and provides guidance that is encouraging and stimulating.  Schlesinger's convivial style only thinly disguises the depth, brilliance, and rigor of his presentation.  One can open this book to any chapter and find distilled wisdom, new insights, and practical help with difficult problems."

- Arnold M. Cooper, M.D., Professor Emeritus in Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

“The word 'texture' suggests warp and woof, process and outcome, science and art, densities appreciated better by sensory processes than by formal thought.  The texture of psychoanalytic experience can seem inexpressible, even ineffabel.  But somehow, in clear and unpretentious language, Herbert Schlesinger conveys it.  Organized here are inferences from a lifetime of passionate immersion in, and disciplined reflection on, psychotherapy, informed by the author’s incisive intelligence, irreverent wit, and warm heart.  Although wisdom is an elusive term, this book is palpably suffused with it.”

- Nancy McWilliams, Ph.D., Rutgers University

"The Texture of Treatment is relatively jargon-free, and has a hands-on, commonsensical, and practical tone.  There is a unified and user-friendly quality that reflects the author's understated but authoritative presence and personal style.  Schlesinger's humble protestations to the contrary, however, the book is an elegant, sophisticated, and artful contemporary textbook of psychoanalytic technique.  The construction of the book seems rather ingenious and logical.  Schlesinger's individuality, integrity, and wit enliven every principle he espouses.  The book has already become invaluable in my work with students and supervisees. I highly recommend it."

- Gerald I. Fogel, M.D., JAPA 53, 2005 

Customer Reviews

A highly recommended supplementary reference
The Texture Treatment: On The Matter Of Psychoanalytic Technique is a quite straightforward instructional written especially to help students and practitioners better understand the theory, principles, and execution of psychoanalytic technique. Knowledgeably written by Herbert J. Schlesinger (a clinical professor of psychology in psychiatry), The Texture Treatment covers transference and countertransference, theraputic activities, the role of regression in psychoanalysis, the optimum to strive for in a theraputic relationship, the cons and pros of questioning, and much more. A highly recommended supplementary reference and a welcome addition to psychology reading lists that meticulously and clearly walks the reader through the dimensions and unique applications of various techniques and approaches.