This book closely examines the analyst's early experiences and character traits, demonstrating the impact they have on theory-building and technique.

Karen J. Maroda, PhD, ABPP, is a psychologist/psychoanalyst in private practice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is the past ethics chair and a board member of Division 39 (Psychoanalysis) of the American Psychological Association and past president of Division 39's Section III, Women, Gender, and Psychoanalysis. She is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Psychoanalysis. She is the author of three previous books, The Power of Countertransference, Seduction, Surrender, and Transformation, and Psychodynamic Techniques. Dr. Maroda has also published numerous journal articles, book chapters, and book reviews. She lectures nationally and internationally on the therapeutic process, including the place of affect, self-disclosure, countertransference, legitimate authority, and the need for clinical guidelines. Dr. Maroda is on the editorial board of two major journals, Psychoanalytic Psychology and Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and she actively encourages her colleagues to write and talk about what they do as therapists.

Introduction Part I The Analyst as a Person 1. The analyst's early experiences 2. Managing the analyst's needs 3. The analyst's narcissistic vulnerability Part II The Analyst as Clinician 4. Conflict and negative countertransference 5. Deconstructing enactment 6. Myths about empathy and mirror neurons 7. Therapeutic action Conclusion