Shrink Dreams: The Secret Longings, Fantasies, and Prejudices of Therapists and How They Affect Their Patients

by Wayne A. Myers

Addressing himself to both general and professional audiences, a practicing psychotherapist and professor of psychiatry at Cornell Medical Center's Payne Whitney Psychiatric Center in Manhattan examines countertransference, the feelings and fantasies awakened in the therapist by the patient that almost invariably interfere with the healing process of therapy. In highly readable chapters with such titles as “The Dream of Rescuing a Damsel in Distress'” or “The Dream of Having the Perfect Child,” Myers offers accounts drawn from his 30 years as a supervising therapist in which other therapists have sought his help in dealing with troublesome cases. Urging practicing therapists to complete their own psychoanalytically based therapy in order to better understand the impact of their past on their responses to and treatment of patients, Myers also encourages patients to question therapists about their training. While the chapters have a schematic sameness and some of his interpretations seem pat, Myers's observations serve both audiences well. Psychotherapy Book Club alternate.

— Publishers Weekly

Genres: Psychology, Psychiatry, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 1992

Reviews

[Chanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Part of the pleasure was due to hearing about the struggles on the other side of therapy - how a therapist struggles with processing the lives of his/her patients, in other words with countertransference. The greater pleasure for me, though, was with the insight displayed by Wayne A. Myers, the supervising therapist these therapists came to see. The ease with which he could “see” what was happening, both within himself, within his patients (the therapists), and his patient’s patients (the actual patients) was remarkable. I derived great pleasure from occupying this space. I wish I could experience life through such clear eyes. Someone of this stature could be arrogant, but Myers struck me as really human. He includes himself in his scrutiny and admits to his own profound blind spots. I highly recommend this for the lay person who wants a peak behind the curtain of Oz.

[Thom Dunn]

[a study in "counter-transference", often with bad consequences for patients:] This book from old Liz pile.