“I have been a great admirer of Tony Bass’ writings for many years, and am delighted to be able to give this book a whole-hearted endorsement. Dr. Bass is a distinguished senior representative of the relational perspective in psychoanalysis. His writing is witty, lucid, and backed by solid scholarship. In our current state of clinical and theoretical fragmentation, Bass spells out clearly the nuanced mutuality that defines the interpersonal/relational perspective and underlies its therapeutic effort. Bass seeks to be a seeker, not a savior and this humility and respect for the patient permeates his work. This magisterial book deserves to be a classic and a guide for future psychoanalytic endeavor. I recommend it highly for everyone in or out of our field.”

“Not all wonderful writers are brilliant teachers. Tony Bass is both. His thinking about the analytic relationship, which is the focus of every single chapter in this marvelous book, is never anything less than fully vital and alive. The writing is deeply felt, fresh, continuously astute, lucid, and gripping. The nature of Bass’s psychoanalytic work comes across in living color. The book is highly readable. You will remember it. It will make a difference in your work. I know, because Bass’s thinking has made a difference in mine. I can think of no more fitting an accolade for this stellar volume than this: Bass is the most important clinical and intellectual heir of Ferenczi writing today.”

“Tony Bass’s stellar collection of essays contained in his book It Takes Two to Know One — Unconscious Dialogues in the Therapy Relationship is a truly outstanding contribution to our field. The title of his book offers an exquisite portal into Bass’ long established and highly valued thinking and clinical approach where mutuality, unconscious communication and compassion are underscored and demonstrated.

Each of the papers is a clinical masterpiece in itself and each takes us to the very heart of relational psychoanalysis where the relationship is not only central to the clinical endeavour but to therapeutic action itself. Beautifully written, deftly and sensitively crafted, Bass brings each clinical moment vividly to life with a compelling sense of immediacy and engagement and in his own unique way.

While profoundly steeped in theory, his focused embrace of clinical experiences throughout the book invites the reader to immerse themselves in the complexity of the relational analytic process, where each member of the dyad is continuously shaping and enriching the other in the pursuit of greater meaning and connection.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a must read for everyone in the field and promises to be an ongoing and inspiring reference text for beginners and seasoned clinicians alike, both within and beyond the Relational canon.”

“This wonderfully readable collection of some of Tony Bass’s key papers and essays, gathered together in one volume, conveys above all, to me, Bass’s sensitivity, compassion and profound humanity. Every sentence seeks and responds to the other, without a shred of jargon. Bass’s emphasis on mutuality — how it grew in him and developed into a credo for a new perspective on the psychoanalytic relationship — reveals a lifelong search for freedom of thought and communication without sentimentality or reification of theory. His capacity to listen in the clinical setting is remarkable and puts me in mind of another credo: E.M. Forster’s ‘Only connect’. This book will enrich the minds and hearts of beginners and seasoned clinicians alike, or anyone seeking to discover how good psychoanalysis works.”

“This important book conveys Philip Bromberg’s essential version of relational psychoanalysis in all its unique wisdom and erudition, tenderness and self-reflection. It is a work of love for the practice of psychoanalysis that will inspire and enlighten.”

“In this enlightening study, Bass and Ceccoli testify to the profound influence of Philip Bromberg on their analytic thinking and on that of generations of students and colleagues. This is an engaging and lucid exploration of the complex elements bridged in Bromberg’s theory and practice. For all who are interested in the functioning of the mind and in the collisions and negotiations of the therapeutic relationship — both experienced clinicians and the humanist reading public — it offers a valuable new mapping of Bromberg’s achievement.”

“In his brilliant and highly influential work, Philip Bromberg wrote from his deeply personal immersion in clinical process, not from the intention to create a systematic theory. This approach, while it led Bromberg to create some of the most gripping prose in the psychoanalytic literature, can make the systematic understanding of his body of work elusive. Now, in this highly illuminating introduction by Bass and Ceccoli, we have for the first time an overview of Bromberg’s work, presented in a way that, while preserving its ‘feel,’ systematically teaches the ideas and lays out the history of their development. This book immediately becomes the place to start if you are beginning to read Bromberg; but it is just as profitable for readers who have read Bromberg for years. I knew the man well and have been deeply influenced by him; and even with that background, I learned a great deal from reading this text. I recommend it highly.”

“Bass and Ceccoli deftly capture the essence of the ‘Brombergian’ ethos as they transport the reader into the felt experience of Philip Bromberg’s remarkable clinical thinking. From the quotidian to the sublime, the authors harness their understanding of Bromberg’s insights into self-state-sharing and the unparalleled importance of a clinical encounter that feels personal and real, while also knowing that in the clinical dyad, this must be a two-way street. With exquisite clarity, Bass and Ceccoli explicate and expand Bromberg’s contributions to unpacking the complex internal and relational consequences of developmental trauma as it influences dissociation, multiplicity, and the importance of a dyadic self-state model in transforming enactments from therapeutic impasse to therapeutic action. Readers cannot help but become immersed, participating with the authors in an emergent creative process that, in its ingenuity and creativity, would be right after Bromberg’s heart.”

“This truly is the book I would have wished for in training. As the authors note, Bromberg’s articles and books are readily available. What has not existed until now is an overview and synthesis of his work in one highly readable volume. By citing the ways in which this beloved teacher and supervisor continues to influence Bass and Ceccoli, the reader is invited to discover their own Philip Bromberg. In that respect, as Bromberg himself might have noted, this volume is an enactment of his most firmly held belief: psychoanalysis is best understood, practiced and learned as a subjective and intersubjective venture.”

“Ceccoli and Bass have poured their hearts and minds into this exploration of the work of Philip Bromberg. It’s not just the ideas of Bromberg they convey, but the experience of sitting with him and soaking in his sensibilities, an experience to savor. With great clinical agility and nuance, they have captured many of the essences of what Bromberg embraced in his inimitable casually intense regard for what he could sense was hidden in people below their own radar. Using clinical vignettes and cogently collecting and elaborating on Bromberg’s most salient contributions to psychoanalysis, they have rekindled, for me, the light that was Philip. Their writing is a gift for all of us.”