Starting from common experiences in daily clinical practice rather than from favored theory, Warren S. Poland addresses some of the key questions in the field today. Poland's organizing question is why each of the two partners, patient ad therapist, behaves as he or she does, how it is that each is pushed toward merger with the other and simultaneously pulled toward separating self-distinction. Solidly rooted in appreciation of the power of unconscious forces, Poland integrates new appreciation of intersubjective engagements and interactions with classical concern for exploration of the unconscious.