Intricate Engagements

In this fine book, Dr. Frankel paints the portraits of his collaborating patients vividly, graphically, and with consummate compassion. Treatment for Frankel is never a discussion and surely not one filled with the therapist's abstinence; it is a vital, interactive, and changing experience for both partners. He is no less skillful in engaging and educating the reader. His review of psychoanalytic theories and research is, in itself, a prodigious and productive education. It is tempting to suggest that this important contribution to psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic therapy is one illustration of theory finally catching up to sensitive and effective practice. Frankel closes his lovely book with thanks to the reader 'for coming on this part of my journey.' My response: 'Please add further trips and invite me along!' -- Shirley Cooper, LCSW
This is a very impressive book. It addresses the current state of foment in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis, and offers a new conceptualization of the workings of psychotherapeutic technique and process. Dr. Frankel's unique approach, candor, thoughtfulness, and creativity emphatically capture one's interest and stimulate one's own thinking. This well-researched and thoughtful volume makes an important and timely contribution to our still-evolving understanding of analytic treatment. -- Calvin Settlage, M.D.
Intricate Engagements is a fascinating, highly readable account of an analyst's efforts to confront the fundamental assumptions upon which more than twenty years of psychoanalytically informed work have been based. This is a courageous undertaking and Frankel takes the reader step by step through the intellectual and emotional processes that underlie this enterprise. He begins by actively engaging with literature on the analytic process and on early development. This is no mere review of the literature; rather, it is a creative act of confronting, organizing, and interpreting a very wide range of analytic thought and empirical study. Intricate Engagements represents new ways of conceptualizing the analytic encounter, but the book is most importantly an illustration of a form of analytic integrity that is based on the willingness of the author to open to self-questioning every aspect of the analytic experience. -- Thomas H. Ogden, M.D.