Waiting lists in psychiatric clinics and increasing numbers of patients in long-term psychotherapy have highlighted the need for shorter methods of treatment. Existing forms of short-term psychotherapy tend to be vague and uncertain, lacking as they do a clearly formulated rationale and methodology.

The bold and challenging technique for brief psychotherapy designed around the factor of time itself, which James Mann introduces here, is a method he hopes will revolutionize current practice. The significance of time in human life is examined in terms of the development of time sense as well as its unconscious meaning and the ways these are experienced in both the categorical and existential senses. The author shows how the interplay between the regressive pressures of the child's sense of infinite time and the adult reality of categorical time determine the patient's unconscious expectations of psychotherapy.

About the Author
James Mann, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and former Dean of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute.

Reviews
An important and stimulating contribution to the rapidly growing literature on brief psychotherapy. It deserves a wide readership among all mental health professionals and should encourage spirited discussion and clinical research. * Social Casework *
The detailed examples and the clear, concise, well-organized exposition of theory and method should make this book especially appealing to therapists in psychoanalytic training. Its chief value in this context is its convincing demonstration that psychoanalytic concepts are not incompatible with brief, time-limited therapy. * American Journal of Psychiatry *



Book Information
ISBN 9780674891913
Author James Mann, M.D.
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 313g