Review from Paul C. Cooper, L.P.:

Simply stated, this is an amazing little book. Every one of its 112 pages, which includes sixteen vignettes accompanied by illustrations, packs a punch. Raubolt speaks in a clear, cogent and succinct manner that is uncomplicated by jargon and theoretical speculation.  His language and format make the book accessible to both the professional and the casual reader. For the trained reader, Raubolt’s theoretical orientation is clear, but it is expressed in the raw, immediacy of the here and now of the co-created relationships with his patients. It is expressed in his willingness to play in the unknowing and uncertainty of who we are as human beings in the world with all of our rough unfinished edges, vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies.

Loosely following Joyce McDougall, Raubolt embraces and flows with this uncertain transient flux of being.  He confronts false notion of self solidity and certainty and he notes, “… as if there was some solid, unchanging, fully known self impervious to mystery or to sudden dramatic shifts and painful collisions of conflicting emotions” (2).  Raubolt’s work comes through loud and clear consistently throughout the text as he has stripped away any potential aspect of the text that could possibly interfere with the autobiographical narrative that so clearly stands out in his brief but potent vignettes.

My initial reaction, as I began to enter Raubolt’s consultation room, which I felt openly invited in to, was a strong sense of shock and indignation. I was extremely uncomfortable with his response to a very vulnerable patient who asked “why do you do this work?”(5). He answered, in part, “I do this work for moments like these; loving what I do and, most often who I am with” (5).  “How could he,” I thought. However, his sensitive and skillful response to this situation quickly disarmed me and I suddenly realized, upon examining my own reaction, which had shifted from hard and closed off to soft and open, that this text bridges the gap between the informative and the performative dimensions of text.
I find this balance, which is missing to so much psychoanalytic writing to be a crucial element worth striving for. This creates the opportunity for the reader to develop a fluid relationship with the text as a result, I found myself learning through both the content and the impact of his narrative.

At this point I began to quickly devour the text and found myself finished in a short time. In retrospect, I wondered whether or not it was my enthusiasm or my resistance that had gotten me through the book so quickly.  After several days, I began to read the text differently, that is, as a series of meditations on clinical work that, as it should, exerts an impact on both individuals involved. The chapters are very brief, a few pages at most. This format renders the book amenable to brief meditations. I began to read one vignette at a time during breaks from my own work, simply taking in the chapter and letting the reading do its work on me. I can see that despite the brief format, or perhaps because of its brevity, this book will serve as a rich source of insight and inspiration for quite some time.

Paul C. Cooper, L.P.
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