Gaslighting, the Double Whammy, Interrogation and Other Methods of Covert Control in Psychotherapy and Analysis
Theo Dorpat has given us an important book on a subject that clearly and deeply concerns him. It is about the various subtle ways that the psychotherapist, including the psychoanalyst, indoctrinates the patient without knowing that he is doing so. Dorpat shows us how the therapist, using widely accepted techniques such as questioning the patient, may raise doubts in the patient's mind about his (the patient's) own perceptions, and induce the patient to accept the therapist's sometimes erroneous ideas. Also, Dorpat tells us how the therapist can judge from the patient's responses to his interventions whether the patient feels set back or helped. Dorpat's work is based not only on his wide experience in psychoanalysis and related fields, but also on an extensive and detailed study of process notes, in which he carefully analyzes patient-therapist interactions. This book provides a much-needed critique of current clinical practice. (Joseph Weiss, M.D.)This provocative and disquieting study of the role of covert processes of indoctrination and interpersonal control in therapeutic failures is an important contribution to the growing literature challenging the mythology of therapeutic neutrality and objectivity. Dorpat's recommendations for making these unconscious influence processes conscious will be invaluable to therapists and analysts in their efforts to discriminate between patterns of compliance and genuine therapeutic change. (Robert D. Stolorow, Ph.D.)