Many psychiatry residents and other mental health trainees begin their careers as psychotherapists with a mixture of enthusiasm and apprehension: enthusiasm at the prospect of using only words and actions to help someone in distress; apprehension about whether they are capable of doing it. In his latest book, Phillip R. Slavney helps these students get started by discussing such fundamental issues as what makes psychotherapy work, what is important in a psychotherapeutic relationship, and whether psychotherapists should have their own psychotherapy. Slavney draws on his long experience as a psychotherapist and teacher of psychotherapy in a confidence-building book that is both practical and scholarly.