Intricate Engagements: The Collaborative Basis of Therapeutic Change

Frankel captures the dilemma of the contemporary psychotherapist: how to integrate the fact that patient and can never get to know each other with certainty, can only strive toward being fully authentic, while it is desparately important to the patient to be known and to feel the therapist is genuine. The book is scholarly, reviewing theories of pschodynamic psychotherapy, child development literature, and theories of change. It is innovative in that Frankel uses his own qualitative method of reviewing detailed clinical passages (100 of them) to check and revise his assumptions about what happened clinically, and devises a general, practical model of the mind that cuts across theoretical barriers. Mostly, the book is honost and self-revealing; detailing the authors personal journey to find certainty within his work. The book is well written and a pleasure to read.