With a unique blend of clinical compassion and philosophical reflection, Donna M. Orange explores the nature and process of psychoanalytic understanding within the intimate and healing context of treatment. Disputing the traditional psychoanalytic emphasis on verbalization, Orange highlights the emotional nature of psychoanalytic understanding. Because much of emotional understanding is tacit understanding, it requires the analyst's empathic participation in the patient's emotional predicament, and attention to the kinds of memories that precede and extend beyond words. Delineating the philosophical underpinnings of emotional understanding—and illuminating the epistemology of the therapeutic enterprise—this book is enlightening reading for all mental health professionals interested in psychodynamic theory and treatment.