Psychological Problems in Mental Deficiency
- Author:
Seymour B. Sarason, Associate Professor ol
Psychology, Yale University. Harper Bros. $8.
pr. Sarason has attempted to cover the whole ? ^ of mental deficiency in this book, and this has Evolved deliberate emphasis of certain types and a rather cursory dismissal of others.
It is not easy to write such a book for clinical and ^?cial workers, psychiatrists and psychologists, and Wiere the whole emphasis tends to be on the Psychology of mental deficiency it is questionable Primary amentia and most of the pathological ypes of defect fit into the form of the book except the sake of completeness. The consequence of , s is that a paragraph of only seventeen lines is svoted to Undifferentiated Types which the author lriiself admits ” represents 31 per cent, of the nstitutional population
This, however, is not a real target for criticism, because the value of the book is to draw attention to the sub-normal and moron groups with personality problems, who form the main social problem in mental deficiency. In this respect the book should be valuable in orientating those workers outside institutions who fail to recognize the use and purpose of colonies in the rehabilitation of those environmentally conditioned and socially maladjusted types.
As distinct from the chapters devoted entirely to testing technique, the last chapter on Psychotherapy has a simple, human approach which every institutional worker should take to heart. It is not a feature of most books on the subject.
As in most American work, there is an overattention to the pinpoint diagnosis of defect by the assessment and interpretation of test results. This is less important than using tests to find a practical way of helping the patient, and if the Rorschach and other projective techniques described pave the way for this, then there is little justification for regarding them as a substitute for any I.Q. test in diagnosis.
The general finding of the Sarasons that patients with Koh’s above Binet scores are generally more stable and susceptible to convention and discipline, is borne out clinically during institutional care, and the fact that some cases do not fit the hypothesis in no way affects its value. As they point out (p. 238), ” even in etiologically similar groups, heterogeneity of behaviour pattern is marked These will show up clinically and by other methods of personality assessment.
In our more personal approach to our patients, Dr Sarason’s statement (p. 107) that ” the institutional setting seldom provides conditions of learning calculated to increase adequacy of response warns us against complacency and much of his book will help us in this approach. J.M.C.
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