A revised and extensively updated version of a book previously entitled Psychotherapy: An Outline for Trainee Psychiatrists, Medical Students and Practitioners, published in 1991.

This work, written by, & designed for, medical & non-medical practitioners comprises an authoritative source of reference of the various present-day psychotherapies or 'talking cures'. It contains basic accounts of & 'dynamic' (Freudian) Individual, Group, & Family procedures, as well as the much in vogue Cognitive, Cognitive-Analytic, and Behavioural theories and techniques. There are special chapters on psychotherapy within general medical practice and of work with Offenders. The Editor, a Psychoanalyst and Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, has written an important section which examines contemporary views on the understanding and management of 'borderline' or narcissistic disorders.

Readers of the book can expect to achieve an enhanced ability to discuss with their clients the various possible types of counselling and psychotherapeutic help which is being taught in the training institutions of what some see as a booming industry in the West, and hopefully as a result of a careful consideration of the issues described, they may come to a more informed conslusion as to which therapy is indicated in the particular instance.

Harold Maxwell is the author of Clinical Psychotherapy for Health Professionals, 3rd Edition, published by Wiley.