The Difficult Child
- Type:
Book Reviews & Abstracts
.” A series of six lectures delivered under the auspices of the Jewish Health Organisation of Great Britain at Toynbee Hall, London, May 19th to June 5th, 1930, and published in ” Mother and Child.” 1 /- net.
-This pamphlet ought to be studied by all hose who have the interest of the child at heart, and if this were so the wide circulation which it would achieve would not be beyond s merits. In the six lectures contained in it are set down clearly and concisely the prin- pPies and practice of Child Guidance. The sychiatrists in charge of the Child Guidance hnic organized by the Jewish Health Organ- Sations, give two lectures each while the fecial worker and the psychologist give one ecture each. In these, the way in which the formation is collected which is requisite for , ^ assessment of the difficulties of the difficult , lld is explained. Further, how each mem- er of the team can co-operate in the measures fc.essary to remedy these difficulties is ex- k ained. The general impression which may gained is that successful Child Guidance in- kn VeS a team work by persons endowed with th ?wl.e(lge, skill and common sense, but that SoGfC n? esoter^c rnystery about the business. sa’H as clin^c is concerned and it may be th’ same applies to other clinics in ch’^ 1Country> no one responsible for a difficult an need fear that in bringing him to a guid- tr- e elinic, he is to be subjected to some in- iata ^ an dreadful enquiry which might tha ? ?Uce more difficulties into his personality t^at Vj took out- Nor need such a person fear PUr ? c^n*c a cover and an excuse for the ^ ?f some pet fad of an eccentric genius. tea ^ other hand, it would appear that this the nds, as others do, that very often it is ratu^arent and guardian who require guidance the er ^an the child, for it is very frequently cmtj?cial conditions which make for the diffi- rather than anything peculiar in the ychologicai make-up of the child.
aUce ^ necessity of team work in child guid- lutelvS stressed in this pamphlet, for it is abso- the o es^ential that the director, usually called Psyel? ihiatrist, should have knowledge of the 0 ogical aptitudes of the child, of his educational achievements, of his social milieu, and of his physical health and he cannot be expected to find out all this for himself. It is salutary also that the social worker should not imagine that she can know all about the prob- lem from a few visits to the home, or that the psychologist should think that a formal test by any of the standard methods is an infallible guide to the solution of all the problems at issue.
It is to be hoped that this pamphlet will be widely read and that as a result the knowledge of the usefulness of child guidance in the present and its great potentialities for the future will be more widelv recognized. R.G.G.
Modern Psychotherapy by Emanuel Miller, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., D.P.M. Jonathan Cape, 1930. Price 5/-net.
The value of this little book lies in the simple, unbiased treatment of complex and sometimes controversial matter. The science, or art of Psychotherapy suffers (perhaps because it lends itself so well to specu- lative exercises) from the mass of literature that has grown up around it. These many books and articles hold matter of extreme in- terest but as this is usually couched in a lan- guage of its own?its presentation is often needlessly verbose?it is little wonder that the general practitioner has no time to deal with it, even although he may be aware of the psycho- logical interaction of mind and body and wish- ful of further enlightenment on the subject. Although the scope of his work allows for little elaboration, Dr Miller gives an interest- ing outline of the various psychotherapeutic methods and also makes clear the deep-seated fundamental principles underlying the whole science. In Chapter I emphasis is laid on the fact that psychotherapy is inextricably bound up with the practice of medicine in every form, whether its exponent be aware of it or no.
Physicians through the media of their own diverse personalities, will of necessity use different methods with their patients, but the interaction of the two minds with their differ- ing emotional and intellectual components must be taken into consideration. ” There are cross relationships between the physicians of a kind and patients of a kind’’ which may lead to therapeutic deadlock; Dr Miller considers that these difficult situations should be clearly- recognised and he sets out to help the prac- titioner to deal with them by recognition of the underlying psychological causes.
Chapter II deals very adequately with the often ill-understood methods, meaning and objects of psycho-analysis. The importance of the Freudian philosophy is fully recognised as being the link in the scientific chain which binds together the various forms of psycho- therapy. In the light of Freud’s masterly deductions we are able to evaluate the causes of success and failure in the older, more em- pirical methods. Other schools of analytical psychology, such as those of Jung and Adler, are sympathetically discussed.
The serious nature of the analyst’s pro- fession is stressed, the suitability of his own personality and the necessity for adequate preparation and training.
Chapter III is devoted to the various meth- ods of suggestion, this being the oldest and most universal form of treatment. In Chapter IV ” The application of Psychotherapy ” will be found most useful matter regarding the advisability of treatment in the Functional Psychoses.
It is generally accepted of the other group, the neuroses and hysterias, that while some may yield to suggestion and the forceful or persuasive manner of the physician, in the majority of severe cases deeper analytical treatment only is likely to bring about perman- ent cure.
The chapter on ” Early Treatment and Pre- vention ” is all too short, particularly in view of Dr Miller’s qualifications to speak on the subject. We should like to have heard more of his experience on incipient Dementia Prse- cox and the hysterias of puberty, especially in view of the emphasis he lays on the importance of early diagnosis and treatment.
In the last chapter he raises fascinating questions in the relationship of mind and body and notes the excellent strategic position of the general practitioner for running psychological investigation concurrently with his ministra- tions to organic disease.
The book ends with a useful glossary of terms peculiar to psychological medicine. M.P.
An Introduction to the Psychology of the Classroom. C. E. Holley. Heath & Com- pany. New York (Harrap), 1931. 6/- net. This book, as the author acknowledges in his introduction, is the outcome of his own early experiences in the study of psychology when he ” spent many hours of blind and un- satisfying labour in studying a formal text book.” Accordingly, he ” felt an urge to write an introduction to the field of psychology for the teacher, that would be more pertinent to his problems.”
It may be assumed then that Mr. Holley in- tends his book to be a text book that shall give to students in training an introduction to psy- chology, at once practical and interesting. The book is certainly non-technical in character) and is written from the standpoint of the teacher faced with classroom problems rather than from that of the psychologist concerned with theories and schools of thought. For aa introductory book, the scope is rather wide- Every aspect of psychology is touched upon-’ there are chapters on the problems of nature and nurture, individual differences, instinct and emotion?with special reference to the in1’ portance of the emotional factor in classroom problems. Much space is devoted to methods of learning and the formation of habits?in’ deed, one chapter of this section concludes with a list of twenty-five ” principles to guide a teacher while directing habit formation.” Even such topics as the theory of formal training, mental measurement, abnormal VsV chology and mental hygiene are included nj this comparatively small text book?whlC concludes with a mental hygiene programme of ten points.
Presentation is clear, and the language, the whole, is free from Americanisms, but t1^ treatment is necessarily summary and some^ what superficial in character. The very *r quent use of sub-headings printed in hea y type cuts up the text and makes the ideas aP pear a little disjointed?although possio y such a device is helpful to students. The exercises given at the end of each ter are also a feature which should make book attractive to students.
The Bibliography?given with each chap for students’ use in working exercises?-15 v poor. It is confined almost wholly to so what obscure American writers. It seems a pity to limit the student’s reading to such ” local ” work, especially as the treatment in the book itself is so brief.
However, an ” Introduction to Classroom Psychology” should prove useful as a revision hook for students who have attended lectures ?n psychology and also read widely, and who need a comprehensive summary that would Serve to call to mind?for the purpose of an ex- arnination?ideas that had been gained from wide reading and a more detailed study of the various aspects of educational psychology. E.W.
The Mongol in our Midst. BvF. G. Crook- shank, M.D., F.R.C.P. Third Edition, (greatly enlarged and entirely re-written), ^egan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Lon- don, 1931. Price 21/- net.
If we were not still held in thrall by the ??k of Genesis, we should realise that it is j^Qst unlikely that man sprang at one particu- ar rnoment from simian ancestry. The extra- 0r(iinary persistence of certain racial types, ^ntury after century, in spite of repeated ln?lings of blood, surely suggests an ex- rerneiy ancient origin for such types. Even e-historic man showed similar differences. , late it has been urged, with considerable o/kT existence of four different types Si t ‘ now clearly recognised by physiolo- tio S physicians, points in the same direc- e ? . Surely this striking fact is more readily of aine.d by a polvgenetic origin for the races Mankind than in any other way.
^en we free our minds from prejudices, Dr 6Ver deep-seated they may be, we shall be Dr to extend a sympathetic hearing to stat d ?rookshank, who has recently re- his h i v’ews in a much enlarged version of orip.,-00,, ” The Mongol in our Midst,” which ^orr >> a^T5eared in the ” To-day and To- in vj?w ” series. Not unnaturally, perhaps, tered ODP?sition his theory encoun- tone ‘ larger book is more controversial in With’ Jays about him, dealing blows But * g00dwi11- ^e^era^6 whether this will increase the think ?t,aPPea^ his theory. At any rate, we w ould be worth his while also to keep the shorter form of his book up-to-date, for the benefit of others than anthropological spec- ialists. To the general reader the brevity and clarity of its original form will perhaps carry more conviction.
Sir Thomas Browne believed that we may ” affirm that there are Egyptians, Scythians, Indians among us; who though born in Eng- land, yet carry the Faces and Airs of those Countries and are also agreeable and corres- pondent unto their Natures.” But it was not until 1866 that Dr Langdon-Down put for- ward his classification of idiots and imbeciles based on ethnic characters. According to him, a very large number of congenital idiots are typical Mongols, while others show Ethiopian and yet others Malayan traits. His description of Mongolism (ably supplemented later by his son, Dr Reginald Langdon-Down) has been generally accepted, but the ethnic basis of his theory was largely neglected, until Dr Crook- shank rehabilitated and greatly extended it. To this his wide reading and wealth of know- ledge, not to mention a skilful dialectic, have been devoted. He pointed out, moreover, that Mongoloids may be found in Europeans who are in no sense imbecile. It can hardly be dis- puted that mongoloid characteristics may have an anthropological significance in view of the successive tides of Asiatic invasion flooding eastern Europe and even passing the mid- European line during a thousand years.
He would indeed go much further than this. To put it briefly, he holds that there are close affinities between the three races of man? black, yellow and white, and three races of apes?gorilla, orang and chimpanzee. He in- fers a polygenetic origin for man, each of these races of men and of apes springing from a par- ticular pre-simian ancestor. Thus, the Negro and gorilla originated from one stem of the common ancestral stock of the Primates, the Mongol and the orang from a second, the ” white ” races and the chimpanzee from a third, and he considers that a study of pre- historic man supports this view, the Cro- Magnon being of the European, the Aurig- nacian of the Mongolian, and the Neanderthal man of the Negro type. It would not be sur- prising, in that case, for atavistic traits which had become recessive to emerge again in the event of an evolutionary failure, for ” it is the dreaded law of inheritance that nothing is lost which once gains access to the circulating blood.” He would agree with Keith that the endocrine balance plays an important part in moulding racial characters, and finds this quite compatible with his own theories, since alike in the Mongol, the Mongoloid idiot, and the orang, the thyroid gland is less active.
Two things emerge from the dust and heat of controversy. One seems clearly proved, i.e., that the Mongolian idiot is an atavistic betrayal of Mongolian ancestry, and implies much more than a mere superficial resemblance. The other, of deeper import, may still be disputed, though we should agree with the writer in the Encyclopaedia Britannica who says that, ” the hypothesis of development admits of the argu- ment, that several simian species may have culminated in several races of man.” To us the Mongolian idiot is an outstanding illustration of Dr A. C. Haddon’s remark : ” In the life of the cultured European from his earliest in- fancy do we find milestones that mark the rate and extent of his progress, and all along this weary road, which it has taken mankind tens of thousands of years to traverse, do we find the tired ones?the laggards in the race of life ?who mutely indicate, if we have but discrim- ination enough to read it, a record of the pain- ful but glorious ascent from the brute to the human.” W.L.-B.
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