Introduction to Psychotherapy: An Outline of Psychodynamic Principles and Practice, Fourth Edition [Paperback]

This is another of these books which seem to be appearing more often these days, where half the authors are dead. In fact, only Bateman is alive, so it seems to me that he has to take all the responsibility for this book, the first edition of which came out in 1979. It wants to be the only necessary text for the aspiring trainee in the psychodynamic approach, and tries to include everything that might be useful to such a student.
It is in two parts: the first is much the better, having nice short chapters on psychodynamic principles, such as the concept of conflict, unconscious processes, developmental phases, attachment theory, therapeutic relationships and so forth. These chapters are clear and succinct. They do contain some mistakes: Kohut wrote about selfobjects, not about self-objects; subliminal advertising never actually worked; DSMIV is wrongly referenced; Freud's phallic phase is about the phallus, not about genitalia in general. And this book is not fully up to speed on the more recent ideas about the relational approach.
There are some very positive remarks about Berne's Transactional Analysis, and in fact these ideas are used several times in this book. The Johari Wndow also comes in for praise.
The second part is more problematic. The chapters are longer, and can sometimes seem to go on and on. And all the prejudices of the psychodynamic approach start to emerge: for example, in the chapter on levels of psychotherapy we get three: outer, intermediate and deeper. And deeper just means: Interpretation of unconscious motives and transference phenomena; repetition, remembering and reconstruction of past; regression to less adult and less rational functioning; and resolution of conflicts by re-experiencing and working them through within the therapeutic relationship. No mention of working at relational depth (Person-centred approach); no mention of working with subpersonalities (Psychosynthesis); no mention of confrontation in the here and now (Psychodrama); no mention of meeting the soul (Transpersonal); no mention of opening up the relationship (Gestalt); or any other of the many ways of going deeper. In fact there are some rather cutting remarks about what they call the Rogerian approach. There is also a rather curious statement that "some family doctors develop skill in working at depth in the five to ten minutes available in the average NHS surgery" which seems odd to me.
One of the surprises is the very positive use of the ideas of Irvin Yalom and Will Schutz, which are simply incorporated as if they were truly psychodynamic, instead of being existential or humanistic. This is in the chapter on group therapy.
But then we come to an extraordinary chapter entitled `Encounter and Beyond'. Here we learn that "Instead of patiently interpreting and working through resistances to self-awareness and change, the therapist aims at expression of the client's feelings by the facilitation of intense experiences. Treatment is shorter term and often concentrated in weekend workshops or 24-hour `marathons'." I don't know when this was written, but what might have been true in 1979 is certainly not true today. And this book quotes with approval the anti-encounter research of Lieberman, Yalom and Miles (1973) which was fully explored and exploded at the time, not least by me!
Carl Rogers is described as "the American evangelist turned academic psychologist" who later "became a leading figure in the Encounter movement". This is about as far away from the truth as is possible. T-groups are confused with Tavistock groups, from which they are of course very different. Role-playing exercises "have also been integrated into Gestalt therapy", but the description of Gestalt groups is woefully outdated. The section on primal work does not mention Grof! And then we get the prime mistake of the psychodynamic writer: "It will be apparent to the reader that each therapy, at least in its early development, picks up and inflates one of the elements of Freud and of mainstream analytic psychotherapy, while excluding others." And this leads to the placing of Rogers and Moreno as direct descendants of Freud (p.223)! Really this won't do.
At the end there is an appendix giving details of the various specialities in the field of therapy, which leaves out both counselling and counselling psychology.
So if you are looking for a good rundown on psychodynamic principles this will do fine - brief and accurate, for the most part. But if you are looking for a book on the broad range of psychotherapy, this is not much good. It just depends on what you want.

This introductory volume provides useful information for those wishing to gain a basic grounding in the theory and practice of psychotherapy. The book is effective in conveying the variety of psychotherapies available, as well as many reasons as to why such treatments may be sought out by the individual. Historical and theoretical contexts are provided and differently appropriate levels of psychotherapy are explained. This is a clear, self-confident account of psychodynamic principles written by practising psychotherapists. As such, the book is of use and interest to both trainees in the field as well as their prospective clients.

In Part I, essential psychodynamic principles are introduced and their historical background is given. The authors work from the assumption that all forms of dynamic psychotherapy stem from the work of Freud, and a useful 'family tree' of subsequent treatments developed is provided (p. 188). Fundamental principles are outlined and explained, for example, the concept of conflict, motivational drives, developmental phases and various models of mind (including for example, Freud's formulation of Super-ego, Ego, and Id (p. 44), and Berne's description of the roughly corresponding Parent, Adult and Child parts within each individual (p. 47)). Bateman et. al., also effectively convey the crucial importance of the therapeutic relationship, and describe clearly the significance of transference and counter-transference as invaluable tools used by the therapist.

Part II is perhaps less satisfying, on account of the all too brief descriptions of newer forms of psychotherapy. While fairly detailed attention is given to Group Psychotherapy, Family and Couple Therapy and Social Therapy, movements such as Interpersonal Psychotherapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are given less than a page. Similarly, Psychodrama, Gestalt and Bioenergetics are not considered in any depth and Hypnotherapy is merely referred to in the space of a short paragraph. If the reader is interested in an extended overview of such current forms of psychotherapy, this is not the book to turn to. However, good references are given throughout, enabling the reader to access to other sources.

Throughout their introduction to psychotherapy, as well as providing useful references, the authors make good use of examples taken from case studies, providing reflections on their significance in psychotherapeutic terms. The conclusion of the book is also engaging, in that it considers research into psychotherapeutic methods and asks questions such as 'what evidence do we have that psychotherapy does any good?'. Serious methodological problems likely to be encountered by the researcher are considered, and particular studies already carried out are described in a manner which is accepting of their limitations and hopeful of future developments. However, despite problems found in psychotherapy research, Bateman, Brown and Pedder's Introduction to Psychotherapy effectively conveys deep-level psychotherapy as a potentially positive voyage of analysis and exploration. Moreover, one that intends to leave behind 'sleeper effects' (see p. 208) which can enable the patient to continue with an internalised learning process, even after the prescribed period of psychotherapy has ceased.

The book ends on a realistic note, in contrast to the idealised definition of mental health adopted by the World Health Organisation (that 'health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being.'). The authors instead quote a female patient who has been aided by psychotherapy (p. 218)...

In summary, Bateman, Brown and Pedder's Introduction to Psychotherapy is an engaging and extensive review of the various methods of psychotherapy available. While perhaps a little brief in places, it does not fail to provide a useful overview based on sound historical, theoretical and methodological understandings.

The book arrived on time and in excellent condition well done no problems encountered. I will not hesitate to use you again.