Many psychiatry residents and other mental health trainees begin their
careers as psychotherapists with a mixture of enthusiasm and
apprehension: enthusiasm at the prospect of using only words and actions
to help someone in distress; apprehension about whether they are capable
of doing it. In his latest book, Phillip R. Slavney helps these students
get started by discussing such fundamental issues as what makes
psychotherapy work, what is important in a psychotherapeutic
relationship, and whether psychotherapists should have their own
psychotherapy. Slavney draws on his long experience as a psychotherapist
and teacher of psychotherapy in a confidence-building book that is both
practical and scholarly.