Definite feel of her psychoanalytic roots, or those of her teachers' she is perhaps more of a humanist than some of her peers though, The age of the text is also apparent, with comments on the culture of the field and some language use not reflective of modern psychology or psychoanalytic practices.
Human experience and the path of suffering and selfunderstanding and growth arguably though doesn't change greatly, and thus the clinical vingettes and talk of the clienttherapist relationship retain their usefulness.
I like in particular her comments on the paucity of training in child development and personality in postgrad/specialist trainings, Many of our current 'therapies' are devoid of this grounding and information on what it is to be fundamentally human, focusing instead on manifest behaviors physical, cognitive or otherwise.
IMO, this doesn't help the therapist connect with their client,
Nice read if you're into the 'classics' which this borders on by virtue of who she is and
her lineage, but I'd look for more recent texts for learning purposes in this time.
Hilde Bruch sets out to accomplish what has, until now, been virtually impossible the teaching of psychotherapy by use of the written word, communicating the wisdom of a lifetime.
Perhaps Dr. Bruch's unique success at a task that has been tried and tried again, only to result in stereotyped do's and don'ts, stems from her own learning experiences with two great teachers: Harry Stack Sullivan and Frieda FrommReichmann.
Dr. Bruch shares her knowledge of the essential purpose of intensive psychotherapy as it has been shaped over her many years as a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and teacher, She sets forth a theoretical frame in straightforward and unmystical language without minimizing the complexities of demand that therapy makes on both patient and therapist,
The reader accompanies the therapist from his first encounter with the stranger who comes to him with his trouble through the various steps that lead to the resolution of the problems.
The patient is viewed as a participant in a multifaceted system of many experiences and people, not as an individual isolated from the world around him, In Dr. Bruch's conception, psychotherapy is a situation where two people interact and try to come to an understanding of one another, with the specific goal of accomplishing something beneficial for the complaining person.
The factors that help or hinder the attainment of this interaction are spelled out in the book, and the entire process of learning psychotherapy is thereby illumination.
.