Object Relations Therapy: Using the Relationship [Paperback]

Sheldon Cashdan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1988

Cashdan's expertise as a teacher is amply demonstrated as he outlines the steps of object relations therapy, from engagement, through identification and confrontation within the therapy relationship--those centering around issues of dependency, sexuality, power, and ingratiation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Cashdan goes a long way to clarify a potentially confusing and complex therapeutic process. The volume should be an impetus to others in the field to explore their own approach to clients and to reevaluate the process of their therapeutic work.” (Contemporary Psychology )

“A good starting place for therapists interested in a brief overview of object relations therapy, this book gives the reader, neophyte or experienced therapist, a nice theoretical framework. Basic, clear, and humane, it sparkles with interventions both poignant and powerful.” (American Journal of Psychiatry )

“The book is written in a lucid style and presents the reader with excellent examples from the author's clinical work. The analysis of projective identifications, without the use of jargon, is particularly valuable.” (Hans H. Strupp, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University )

“What a wonderful book.” (Sally Barlow, Ph.D., Brigham Young University )

“A valuable resource for advanced courses in psychotherapeutic concepts and for psychotherapeutic supervision. This book is a good read.” (Journal of Integrative and Eclectic Psychotherapy )

“Cashdan's creative and stimulating book offers a truly novel and enlightening version of object relations psychotherapy.” (Donald J. Kiesler, Ph.D., Virginia Commonwealth University )

About the Author

Sheldon Cashdan, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is the author of Interactional Psychotherapy and The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (September 17, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393700593
• ISBN-13: 978-0393700596
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #128,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic easy to read but advanced book on obj rel therapy, October 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Object Relations Therapy: Using the Relationship (Paperback)

As a psychologist, I found this book to be a great basic book on doing psychotherapy from an object relations perspective. Easy to read and understand difficult concepts and patients. Highly recommend.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Surprised by client treatment and the extremity of his views, May 19, 2003

By 

jenna randolph (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Object Relations Therapy: Using the Relationship (Paperback)

While Object Relations Therapy was highly readable, even entertaining, I was deeply concerned with some of the author's more extreme client interventions, and would urge readers to consider this. I felt this most notably with regard to the treatment of an incest survivor on p. 141. Not only is the woman called a name that's unprintable through Amazon, but when people attempt to comfort her, the author/therapist "pries their fingers" from his client. He also fails to intervene with clients drinking alcohol in the office, and who, as a consequence wreck a car, potentially causing himself and others great harm. For another client, invervention isn't made until after a suicide attempt, although it could have been, (p. 124). While I understand we're to assume prelinguistic problems with these clients, the reality is that the case studies refer to trauma clients (the suicide was ten when her mother, also in the house, killed herself). I also understand that Cashdan's trying to propose a therapy similar to what we might have once called "tough love." However, the extremes here seem horrifying and dangerous to me, and do, by his own admission, nearly result in repeated client deaths. I certainly don't want to destroy the read (I bought and read it), I just urge all readers to consider the real effect of such practices on clients. Books like this should be read to raise awareness of such practices. Some of the clients presented here would be able to pursue litigation justifiably, and therapists, especially those just beginning their practices, should be made aware of this. To invoke more rational object relations players, such as Kernberg and Klein, just didn't seem apt. I suspect this book will create quite a controversy.