Manual of Psychological Medicine for Practitioners and Students
- Author:
TreHcrnJH M n CD r’D
FRSE Baillifcre, Tindall and Cox. 18s.
In his Preface to this book the author writes of the need for a reasonably short, plain and practical account ? Psychological medicine. There is certainly plenty of for an introductory manual of this character, and ne fact that it is in the main descriptive rather than at *n *ts approach is not a disadvantage. There is t V*e. Present time in psychiatry far too great a tendency
up elaborate theoretical constructions upon the
n!nfe/est basis of ascertained fact. The student has a _ for clear and well-written descriptions of the basic psychiatric syndromes, free from that bias which so i SUy creeps in when there are too many preconceived as in the author’s mind concerning the nature of the material which he is describing.
untortunately, the author does not entirely avoid the v “8c,r of speculative theorization, and presents some dpfi . 0ubtful ideas about causation with the same air ot tin ss w’th which he marshals his facts of observaKP:n’ “^he section on Neurasthenia, which he explains as r?rnS due to nervous exhaustion, and indeed his whole a p111 ation of the concept of nervous exhaustion, oners reaHM^ example of this tendency. No one responds more ?i “y to the notion that he has nervous exhaustion than unf ^^honeurotic patient, and it would indeed be tj^. 0rtunate if the work of Ross and many others upon snff0 ,subject became forgotten. For every patient in ?ulng ^rom true exhaustion there must be hundreds CntVi ,9m the symptoms represent the results of conflict, s?r -P lcated and made manifest no doubt by stress and ratio n?ne the less primarily and essentially dynamic ratJer than depletive. ,
form ?^ler times the book is inclined to lose itself in that then ? casuistry which consists of labelling diseases and dW J.u8gling with the labels. For example, of pararespmui’ author states: “In certain respects it bept?1!? paranoid schizophrenia which has already in H-ff described, and difficulty is sometimes experienced trenH - ent’ating between the two.” The whole modern Undp P^hiatry is towards making no attempt to Tn u ? e any such form of hair splitting.
shnu classification of schizophrenia, the author again djfp. s a tendency to deviate from current thought, rle UnH:e?,tiates between schizophrenia, which he includes PrafJ ? heading ” Mental Disorder”, and ” dementia Der-n ?? ‘ which he includes under the heading Mental on ‘ This differentiation seems to be based mainly nart- ” results and to be neither particularly useful nor In ? rly valid… .
devia?0nsiderin6 the unstable and nervous child he also are Sfs from current ideas. He states: “Complexes are o Present; but it is very rarely indeed that there exr?lr.ny.-serious conflicts or any need for deep mental chi,H.r5lon- Conversation usually reveals that the s fears and difficulties are very near the surface and mainly related to his feelings regarding the persons, things and events around him. In most cases simple explanation, reassurance, persuasion, gentle upbraiding of faults, pointing out the personal disadvantages which follow misbehaviour, and the extraction of a promise to do better in the future are all that are required.” Most of those engaged on Child Guidance work would indeed be pleased if this were so.
The section on Mental Defect is detailed and complete. CHR
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.