Modern Psychiatry in Practice
2nd Edition. :Author: W. Lindesay Neustatter, M.D., M.K.u.F. J. & A. Churchill, Ltd., London. 12s. 6d.
This book, which is intended mainly for the medical student and the non-specialist practitioner, attempts, in 269 pages, to cover the whole field of psychiatry ; it includes chapters on psychopathology, psychoses and psychoneuroses, mental deficiency, treatment, the preventive and legal aspects and even some of the ” specialties ” of psychiatry. It is therefore greatly to the author’s credit that the book is as readable, comprehensive and valuable as it is. At the same time, it is, of necessity, dogmatic and sometimes tantalizing in the brevity with which it deals with important and interesting aspects of the problem. For the most part the balance between importance and space of text is well held, but some pruning of details, unnecessary to the type of reader for whom it is meant, would improve the book and make more room available for essential features elsewhere. It will seem to some also that the author’s highly personal, and sometimes even racy, style could have been made more succinct with benefit to both the amount of subject matter covered and the ” dignity ” of the book. It is only fair to say that Dr. Neustatter emphasizes his desire to get away from ” the immense amount of dreadful jargon “, which permeates so much psychiatric literature ; at the same time few textbooks, even of the simplest type, are improved by the use of such numerous exclamation marks.
In a book of this type, it is unfortunate that a number of errors have been allowed to creep in. It is doubtful, for example, if many psychiatrists, especially those with Army experience, would agree that enuresis ” practically never persists after puberty
Even with these faults, this is a valuable contribution to the more elementary textbooks on psychiatry. It gives an excellent, and usually readable, description of many aspects of psychiatry, and it should do much to stimulate interest and further reading by the student. It will, too, give the practitioner a fair and sensible approach to a subject which so often puzzles, and sometimes infuriates, him by its apparent complexity and contradictions. In this second edition of the book, new chapters have been added on psychopathy, neuropsychiatry and physical therapy, whilst many of the other chapters have been enlarged or redrafted. T.A.R.
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