The Therapeutic Process attempts to present an informative, sequential, well-defined, and clinically rich guide to the process of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The book was specifically designed to have broad appeal and value, for the beginning clinician to more experienced clinician, or the clinician who also teaches students of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. For the beginning clinician, the book has many illustrative examples, and terms are well defined. For the long-time clinician, the book attempts to put clearly into words, what many of us have thought all along. This book arose from a series of lectures that were part of a course for the psychiatric residents at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, as well as from the instruction of many therapists from other mental health disciplines. The challenge in the initial instruction of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is always to be able to introduce fundamental concepts and convey the importance of a solid theoretical background, while concurrently addressing the clinician's pressing desire and often immediate requirement to understand the clinical process. Novel heuristic models are described and illustrated in clinical vignettes, in order to quickly bring together clinical and theoretical terms with the practice and process of psychotherapy.

"Readers who approach a new introductory textbook of psychodynamic psychotherapy with skepticism about finding freshness will be gratified by this effort by Thompson and Cotlove. The authors have created a multitheoretical and up-to-date textbook that succeeds in reaching their stated intended audiences: beginning and more experienced clinicians and those who teach psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The Therapeutic Process succeeds in many ways. Physically it is a tidy package of good publishing quality. It is a pleasure to read and read again. This book is strongly recommended as a teaching aid, especially for psychiatry resident courses and for analytic institute extension courses." - Journal Of Clinical Psychiatry