Individual psychotherapy and the science of psychodynamics

In this book the principles of dynamic psychotherapy, from the most elementary to some of the most profound, are presented in logical order, but almost entirely in connection with illustrative true stories which are told as they happened. Such stories are practically never simple, and hence most of them illustrate several different principles and ideas at the same time. This means that if the reader wishes to learn about such a concept as 'transference' or 'acting out', he will find it discussed and illustrated in various different places in the book in connection with a number of different stories, often with cross-references one to the other. I hope this book is entertaining enough to be read in sequence like a novel. But it can also be used for reference. For this purpose all the reader has to do is to look up any particular concept in the index or the table of contents, and turn to the appropriate passages. In the first of these the concept will usually be defined, and in any subsequent passages it will be further illustrated and elaborated. - D.H.M., page v.