The Treatment of Moral and Emotional Difficulties
A Practical Guide for Parsons and Others. :Author: Cyril H. Valentine, M.A., Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychology in the Chichester Diocese- Student Christian Movement Press, 3/6.
In an introduction to this little book contributed by Dr J. R. Rees (Director of the Tavistock Clinic), it is described as an ” original, stimulating and valuable bit of work,” and one which will certainly help towards a wiser understanding of those who are neurotic.
The author does not contend that all such men and women coming within the parson’s purview can be adequately dealt with by him but he does contend that the clerical psychologist with special knowledge and experience should be more generally recognised as one who is equipped to deal with people suffering from the minor psychological troubles which do not call for drastic treatment by technical psychological analysis. It is with this type of patient that the book deals.
The last two chapters Fellowship or Domination and The Psychological Reformation of Religion are perhaps the most interesting in the book, dealing as they do with the part which religion can play in building up an integrated personality. Despite Dr Valentine’s own religious convictions, he does not seek to disguise the fact that certain types of religious teaching may be psychologically injurious rather than helpful; and he points out the distinction between the ” religion of love and the religion of power”. The subject is, of course, too profound to be more than touched upon in a book of this size, but as an introduction to its further exploration and as an incentive to thought and discussion, these last chapters should prove of real ralue.
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