Freud defined good mental health as 'the ability to love, to work, and to play.' We have devoted much time to studying our ability to love and to work. Our 'ability to play' has gotten short-changed and needs our attention. This clinically relevant and highly enlightening book takes us from child's play to adult play, from the development-stimulating power of play to its use in problem-solving adaptation, even to its outwitting and out-battling trauma, and to its application to loosening the rigidities of adversarial diplomacy. This richly informing, superb book takes us on a journey from childhood to-as long as we live. We must know this for clinical work!

Henri Parens, MD, Thomas Jefferson University and Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

Monisha Akhtar's book brings together an impressive array of experts to demonstrate that taking play seriously deepens our clinical knowledge, enriches technique, and reclaims the psychoanalytic understanding that play is central to all human endeavors.

Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute, Kerry Kelly Novick and Jack Novick, PhD, Michigan Psychoanalytic Institute