An Elementary Psychology of the Abnormal
- Author:
Pillsbury.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 19d2. 675 pp.
Perhaps in no field of psychology is there such urgent need for a critical, yet appreciative and unbiased text as in that of abnormal behavior. There is no dearth of treatises written from the orientation of the psychiatrist, but too few, indeed, are those written from that of the psychologist. One need not look far for information covering adequately those cases whose maladjustment is of the type requiring hospitalization, but one wonders why the consulting psychologist has been so slow to publish texts based upon his findings in those patients with whom his practice is concerned and presenting his orientation toward the problems involved.
In some respects the present volume marks an advance in this direction, in many it is disappointing. We are given to understand that the “incentives for the collection of the material of the book were furnished through teaching classes in abnormal psychology …” and this source is evident throughout the volume which bears, in its discussion and argument, to too great an extent, the stamp of the classroom and armchair rather than that of the clinic. The book is divided into twenty chapters and its major contribution lies in the fact that after an introduction, twelve chapters are devoted to the psychoneuroses and allied phenomena before the psychoses are treated, completely reversing the procedure followed in most texts on the subject. The text opens with a discussion of hypnotism, following which are presented the theories of Janet, Freud, Jung and Adler. The author then takes up the problems of the war neuroses, dissociation, the unconscious, sleep, sex and speech disorders. Five chapters on the psychoses follow. A chapter is devoted to the mentally deficient, to the classification of the normal on the basis of analogies with the abnormal, to genius and insanity, and finally to mental hygiene.
Outstanding in the book is the chapter on “The Phenomena of the Neuroses and the Theoretical Interpretation of Them” which in both style and content is excellent. The treatment of ‘’ Sleep in Relation to Abnormal Phenomena” is quite good, while that on “Sex and Mental Pathology,” although beginning badly, ends in a vein which can only be commended. One is quite unfavorably impressed by the extremely emotional antagonism displayed toward the doctrines of Freud, resulting not only in a biased account of the latter’s doctrines and work but, more unfortunately, in not a few misstatements concerning psychoanalytic theory and practise. Thus we read (p. 77) that “The drive element or will is furnished by the libido or sexual desire in the narrower sense,” while at the same time the author gives as one of his four references the excellent work of Healy, Bronner, and Bowers (’’ The Struc72 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLINIC ture and Meaning of Psychoanalysis”) who, quite to the contrary, quote Freud as stating “The force by which the sexual instinct is represented in the mind we call libido” … ‘’the energy … of those instincts which have to do with all that may be comprised under the word ‘love’ ” and “The nucleus of what we mean by love naturally consists … in sexual love with sexual union as its aim. But we do not separate from this … on the one hand, self love, and on the other, love for parents and children, friendship and love for humanity in general, and also devotion to concrete objects and to abstract ideas.” This is certainly not sex in any narrow sense.
Again he asserts (p. 75) that “The method of psychoanalysis involves primarily a vigorous questioning of the patient.” Peculiarly enough we find here no notion of free association which is the crux of Freud’s method?as 11 vigorous questioning’’ is not, as witness again the statement of Healy, et al.: “The patient reclines on a couch out of sight of the analyst, and tells just what comes into his mind, quite uncensored by consciousness. Jones says Freud ‘ … asked his patients to refrain from concentrating on any particular idea and from consciously guiding their thoughts.’ ” The author is particularly disturbed over the concept of the unconscious but finally does no more than substitute a neurological unconscious for a psychic one.
In his chapter on ‘1 Feeblemindedness’’ Professor Pillsbury has completely forgotten that in the formula for the Intelligence Quotient as accepted through the clinical world, the quotient obtained by dividing the mental age by the chronological age is multiplied by one hundred. Thus his statement (p. 290) that “Terman asserts that all individuals who have an I.Q. of less than 0.70 are feebleminded, between 0.50 and 0.70 are morons, between 0.30 and 0.50 are imbeciles and below 0.30 idiots” is inexcusable. Also, such a statement concerning the constancy of the intelligence quotient as “Many later workers have found a considerable shift” is extremely unfortunate in its vagueness and implications.
In discussing the causes of feeblemindedness, Dr Pillsbury asserts (p. 291) that ‘’ Some cases have a very small cranium and consequently a small brain.’’ The causal implication here is obvious and quite erroneous inasmuch as the size of the cranium is consequent upon and not causal to the development or lack of development of the encephalon. Again we find the description of the cretin (p. 292): “They are very short, usually heavy set and with a large swelling in the neck due to enlargement of the thyroid gland. This swelling is known as a goiter.” The fact is that goitre is not characteristic of cretinism and is, indeed, seen only in the endemic type?which more precisely can be said to exhibit both cretinism and goitre. Oddly enough, even the cretin whose photograph illustrates the chapter lacks this “characteristic.” Again, in his description of the Mongolian, we find the statement (p. 293) that: ‘’ The skin is yellow and dry … etc.’’ Unfortunately for the accuracy of the text, the skin of the Mongolian is not necessarily yellow?despite the name.
It will be noted, however, that these inaccuracies center around Freudianism and mental deficiency. They do not represent the general quality of the book which, while seldom brilliant, is superior to these sections. In the hands of one qualified by clinical experience to recognize the limitations of the text it will probably be found of some value as a reference to special topics. Thomas J. Snee University of Pennsylvania
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