The professional community in Israel abounds today with psychoanalytic concepts of all kinds. As an Argentinian, however, who came to this country in 1971, one of the difficulties in being absorbed was the lack of a common professional language. The country I originated from was a fortress of Kleinian theory in particular and of object-relations theory in general.

I discovered that at the same time I came to Israel, Springmann, during his stay in London, became acquainted with this stream in psychoanalysis. I believe that following his studies at the Tavistock Center under the tuition of teachers such as Henry Ezriel and David Malan, his return to Israel was an incentive for his specific development. His work in clinical surroundings and in other challenging environments, as well as the relative absence of psychoanalytically trained hospital clinicians contributed to this trend, as reflected in his book.

He formulated and widened Ezriel's concepts of the three-level-interpretations and used them as a basis for the integration of various psychoanalytic approaches and the mutual influence they have on each other, the Freudian axis on the one suggested buy Kohut, by Piaget etc. Then he implemented these concepts in various clinical settings. We are exposed to the psychodynamic therapy of deluded schizophrenics as well as to the interpretation of large group settings, such as ward meetings. Non-interpretative interventions are also dealt with in his book as well as their relationship to interpretations and growth.

The second part of his book deals with countertransference and supervision. Springmann points out the discrepancy in the definition and implementation of countertransference as seen in the writing of various authors and seems to have suggested a practical conceptual tool for the solution of these discrepancies. Supervision, especially in the therapy of severe psychopathology is widely dealt with, and the need of the third, non-involved person is accentuated. Springmann attributes special value to the relationship between supervisor and student and redefines the parallel process in reverse, a process in which dynamic difficulties that appear in supervision contaminate the therapeutic process. Then he suggests a way for solving this problem and suggests conceptual tools for gauging the depth of supervisory interventions.

Special attention is paid to institutional politics, the shortening of stays in hospitals, and the almost exclusive use of drug therapy, as advocated by most policy makers. Springmann takes a strong stand against this policy. He warns against this one-sided approach and suggests an integrative approach in which psychotherapy is combined with a well thought out use of psychotropic drugs.

The book is written in a narrative style and each theoretic assumption has its clinical counterpoint.

I found Dr. Springmann's book excellent reading material and believe it to be one of the most important books in its field published in at least a decade.