A Map of the Mind

Written in an accessible style, making use of extensive case material, this valuable book demonstrates how to use a map and compass in clinical work, how to find one's bearings and maintain one's course. Here you will learn how the data of clinical psychiatry are gathered and then shaped from the first crude map of unknown territory into a working clinical formulation, the first organizing principle of therapy. Here you will also learn how to take the clinical situation, the face-to-face encounter between patient and therapist, and break that seamless experience into its parts. The author walks the reader through the therapeutic process and discusses how each piece of data (first data, first meeting, mental status, transference, countertransference, resistance, defense mechanisms, history) must be examined with regard to its origin, meaning, direction, and strength.