Book Review: Learning from Our Mistakes: Beyond Dogma in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, by Patrick Casement, New York: The Guilford Press (2002), 150 pp

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol. 64, No. 4, December 2004 ( 2004)Book ReviewEdited by Riva L. Westlund, Ph.D.Learning from Our Mistakes: Beyond Dogma in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, by Patrick Casement, New York: The Guilford Press (2002), 150 pp.Simply stated, this is, in my opinion, an excellent book. It is honest, clearly

written and it contains a wealth of useful information garnered from the authors

years of clinical experience and self-reflection, which he has integrated with

sound theoretical thinking. Initially, I found myself reacting negatively to Casements ideas, but quickly realized how easy it is for an individual psychotherapist

to rationalize ones own unquestioned assumptions, which are easily defended

against by taking a rigidly critical stance toward the presented ideas. For example,

I found myself asking What exactly is a mistake? After all, didnt Freud describe

all experience as neutral? That it is our own subjectivity that colors experience in

either a negative or a positive light?An alternative stance that I...