Jason Aronson, Inc.
Pages: 180
•
Trim: 6½ x 9½
978-0-7657-0769-7 • Hardback • December 2010 • $108.00 • (£83.00)
978-0-7657-0771-0 • eBook • December 2010 • $50.00 • (£38.00)
Howard A. Bacal, MD, is a training and supervising analyst at the Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, and supervising analyst at the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity and the National Training Program in Contemporary Psychoanalysis in New York. He has a private practice in Los Angeles, California. He is co-author of Theories of Object Relations: Bridges to Self Psychology, and editor of Optimal Responsiveness: How Therapists Heal Their Patients. Lucyann Carlton, PsyD, JD, is a training and supervising analyst at the Institute for Contemporary Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, and she has a private practice in Irvine, California.
1 Preface
2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 1. The Need for a New Theory of Therapy
Chapter 4 2. The Use of Theory in Psychoanalytic Practice
Chapter 5 3. How Specificity Theory Changes Clinical Practice
Chapter 6 4. The Neurobiological Substrate of Specificity Theory
Chapter 7 5. The Evolution Of Specificity Theory: A Professional and Personal Odyssey
Chapter 8 6. The Foundational Perspectives of Specificity Theory
Chapter 9 7. Clinical Consequences of the Shift from the Universality of Structure To the Specificity of Process
Chapter 10 8. How Specificity Theory Alters Our View of Psychoanalytic Concepts And Principles and How This Affects Therapeutic Action
Chapter 11 9. Correlates of Specificity Theory within Infant Research
Chapter 12 10. The Power of Specificity in the Process of Supervision
13 References
14 Index
15 About the Authors
Building on and synthesizing a half century of practice and personal analytic experiences with the likes of Balint, Winnicott, Bion, Milner, and Kohut, Howard Bacal offers us a broadly relational, process theory that addresses the heart of all psychotherapy and its supervision: the specifics of fittedness between patient and therapist as well as the unique match between therapist and supervisor. It is just this that was neglected for so long in psychoanalytic theory and practice that is now presented so clearly, and richly integrated with contemporary neuroscience and infancy research.
— Lewis Aron, PhD, New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis
The Power of Specificity In Psychotherapy expands and deepens our understanding of therapeutic action and the change process. Specificity theory is as groundbreaking as it is orienting for the therapist or analyst who wonders why accepted doctrine and standardized technique so frequently do not work. Presented in a well-written, articulate, and accessible manner, Bacal's cutting-edge approach to reconceptualizing therapeutic interaction and to appreciating the uniqueness of relational engagement frees us from our reliance upon linear, codified, and objectivist methodologies aimed at therapeutic change. In true contextualist, process-based fashion, Bacal conveys a deep respect for the individual and the uniqueness of the dyadic engagement—without which patients, and therapists, are otherwise so often rendered less than human. Grounded in personal lived experience as well as current research, this must-read book is as immediately clinically useful as it is scholarly and expansive of theory.
— William J. Coburn Ph.D, Psy.D., editor, International Journal of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology
Bacal's lucidly written and richly illustrated book is a pleasure to read. Both seasoned clinicians and beginners will find a freshness in his approach. Thinking about the specificity that emerges in the process of the dyad of patient and therapist or the triad of supervisor, supervisee, and patient makes each clinical exchange a unique opportunity for emotional growth and learning.
— Judy L. Kantrowitz, PhD, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Harvard Medical School