The Musical Edge of Therapeutic Dialogue

"Analytic therapists have long known that the messages conveyed by both partners in the therapeutic dialogue contain far more than verbal text. Now Steven Knoblauch explicates and illustrates exactly how issues of tone, pitch, rhythm, accent, and pause enter into our work. His special quality as a writer shines through in the richness of the clinical examples that illuminate every page. Never have the metaphors of music received such expressive application to treatment. The Musical Edge of Therapeutic Dialogue opens the reader to an expanded appreciation of the substrate of empathy and introspection." - Joseph Lichtenberg, M.D., Editor, Psychoanalytic Inquiry "Over the course of the last decade, it has become apparent just how profoundly personal the practice of psychoanalysis is. For each of us, clinical work closely reflects personal history, aesthetic and intellectual sensibility, one's take on life. Drawing on his deep understanding of and love for jazz, Steven Knoblauch has written a beautiful book about the subtle, interactive textures of the analytic process, its rhythmic patterns as well as its semantics, its tones as well as its symbols. For anyone who struggles daily with the enormous complexities of analytic work, The Musical Edge of Therapeutic Dialogue offers, like a good piece of music, an enriching experience." - Stephen A. Mitchell, Ph.D., Founding Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues "An enjoyable aspect of this book is that the flow of Knoblauch's writing harmonizes with his ideas. He establishes a musical rhythm in his case illustrations such that the material comes alive, and the reader can easily accompany him. The music of his writing captures the lapses, withdrawals, and drawing close of intimate relations." - Ephi J. Betam, JAPA "The applicability of his musical notions to the therapeutic craft is completely convincing to the classical-music-oriented connoisseur. Therapists of other (or less artistic) preferences may reframe his notions in terms more comfortable to them but will surely benefit from the wisdom and depth of the treatment formulations carried in this volume." - Abram Chipman, American Journal of Psychotherapy