This book skillfully brings developments in psychotherapy up to date. Dr. Gertrude Blanck writes with a clarity and simplicity that can only be acquired with discerning and seasoned expertise. Extracting from the proliferation of complex and often contradictory popular schools of thought, she presents what is essential and fundamental in clinical work today. In a question-and-answer format, illustrated with patient-therapist dialogue, the practice of psychotherapy is organized, explained, and made accessible. Dr. Blanck addresses a broad range of topics including how to design the treatment, build psychic structure, learn from symptoms and defenses, formulate a developmental diagnosis, teach parenting skills, and know when medication is desirable. Her lively and very practical use of a model case demonstrates the application of her thinking to clinical technique and interventions. An excellent teaching resource, this book is ideal for practicing clinicians, supervisors, residents, and graduate students in clinical psychology and social work.About the Author: Gertrude Blanck holds a Ph.D. from New York University. She has had extensive psychoanalytic training and has been in the private practice of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy since 1950. At a time when little was known about the technique of psychotherapy, Dr. Blanck established the Institute for the Study of Psychotherapy where she, along with a distinguished faculty, trained hundreds of psychotherapists. An esteemed supervisor and seminar leader, she has lectured in the major cities of the United States, Europe, China, and the Philippines. She is co-author of the noted trilogy Ego Psychology, Ego Psychology II, and Beyond Ego Psychology. Dr. Blanck is past president of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Distinguished Lydia Rapaport Visiting Professor at Smith College, and recipient of the Margaret S. Mahler Memorial Award. She has been named to the Hunter College Hall of Fame.