"I have always admired Lena Ehrlich’s work and have it in mind when I wonder what might keep me from recommending psychoanalysis even when it is the best treatment. Through her sensitive clinical practice, she shows how the psychoanalytic process begins and deepens in the analyst’s mind and explores our resistances to letting it come to life and grow. Her writing has strengthened my own identity and practice as psychoanalyst. It has also informed our research in the Working Party on Initiating Psychoanalysis of the European Psychoanalytic Federation; in turn, our findings have confirmed those from her fine clinical practice. Even on the difficult topic of teleanalysis she is well-informed, cogent and thought-provoking. It is a real treat to have her work collected in this book, which will be a must for all psychoanalysts."
- Bernard Reith, President of the Swiss Psychoanalytical Society, past chair of the EPF Working Party on Initiating Psychoanalysis and co-chair for Europe of the IPA Working Parties Committee.
"In lucid prose, Lena Ehrlich conveys the multitudinous ways an analyst develops her capacities to face her own conflicts, resistances, and to tolerate her own affect and intense countertransference reactions. Simultaneously, she shows us her belief in her patients’ capacities to grow and change. These two developments within herself combine to create the conditions for the development of a deep, intimate analytic process to evolve. Her openness in facing her own struggle to form an analytic identity provides a model of self-scrutiny that should be inspiring to all clinicians and especially for young analysts."
- Judy L. Kantrowitz, Training and supervising analyst, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and author of The Role of the Patient-Analyst Match in the process and outcome in psychoanalysis
"This timely book on the development of psychoanalytic identity and practice is written with passion and conviction from deep personal and clinical experience. With uncommon lucidity, it demonstrates convincingly that psychoanalysis, despite its troubled history and many current challenges, "has the potential to transform us at an emotionally cellular level, helping us be present and sturdy inside ourselves and better able to connect with and love others." Designed for candidates in training, recent graduates, and experienced analysts, this informative and inspiring book offers compelling examples of the analyst at work and illustrates how analysts can develop and sustain a lively psychoanalytic engagement and an enduring capacity to help patients begin, deepen and end analysis."
- Howard B. Levine, MD, Editor-in-Chief, The Routledge W. R. Bion Studies Series
