This book focuses on the question of the theory of therapeutic action underlying the multiple perspectives in psychoanalysis. The question of how psychoanalysis effects therapeutic change and the methods by which this change is achieved is answered from the perspectives of: ego psychology and modern conflict theory, classical theory, contemporary object relations theory and neo-Kleinian theory, attachment theory, and self psychological theory, as well as total composite theory and pluralistic perspectives. The volume concludes with an exploration of how these theories of therapeutic action diverge and converge, and ultimately what holds these diverse approaches within the boundaries of psychoanalysis. Contributors include the following leading U.S. West Coast psychoanalysts: Hedda Bolgar, Christopher Christian, Michael Diamond, Morris Eagle, Tom Helscher, Nancy Hollander & Stephen Portuges, Beth Kalish, Dan Paul, Leo Rangell, Linda Sobelman, Alan Spivak, Peter Wolson, and Harriet Wrye & Marjorie Schuman