This introduction to psychotherapy is based on the belief that the ability to work fruitfully in this field depends more on the practitioner's ordinary intuitive skill and experience of living than on any other factor. Intuition can be cultivated, Lomas suggests, and those who train in the work should be encouraged to retain their own style of relating to others and to avoid the erosion of spontaneity that can so easily occur when a particular method is imposed on the student. In this book, Lomas describes the ways in which the therapist can use the ideas of Freud and his followers in the context of a conversation with the patient comparable to those that occur in daily life. He suggests that psychotherapy is, contrary to the widespread view in both academic and popular culture, a real relationship rather than an illusory one fostered by a setting that is usually considered to be artificial. Lomas discusses the problems involved in the definition of the word "real", especially at the present time, and explores its meaning in the context of psychotherapy and its place in the understanding of transference, dependence and responsibility.
Finally, Lomas offers some suggestions as to how a training in psychotherapy is possible in which students organise their work in a way that permits maximum autonomy and the development of their individual talents.