The analytical encounter has transformed ideas about human interaction and the alleviation of suffering. However, whilst Freud and Jung developed general psychologies of the mind, they wrote proportionately less on the actual conduct of analysis. In the context of increasing professionalisation, such issues are of great contemporary concern. Michael Fordham, a prominent Jungian analyst and an international figure in psychotherapy and child analysis, was co-editor of the collected works of Jung and the first editor of The Journal of Analytical Psychology. This volume brings together for the first time a series of classic papers by Fordham which, taken together, provide a clear and detailed exposition of Jung's ideas on the practice of psychotherapy, showing how they interrelate with those of pscyoanalysis. In his introduction, Sonu Shamdasani highlights the historical and institutional contexts of Fordham's work and draws out its implications for contemporary practice.
The collection covers a range of topics including transference and countertransference, regressed states, the role of theory and interpretation, supervision, frequency of sessions, multiple analysis, and the problems of training. It offers an informative discussion of the everyday realities of analyst-patient interaction which will be of immediate interest to today's practitioners.