39& PSYCHOSOMATICS SEPTEMBER-OCToBER

It suggests methods directed towards factors re­sponsible for "distortions of personality develop­ment by long-term infiuences." It also dealswith "intervention directed towards the prob­lems of individual children during crises due tosituational difticulties." The author also sug­gests a development of community resources tocoordinate the total approach from various fields.

This book, composed of articles of many au­thors, shows weakness in its sUbject repetition.Many problems discussed are not new and manystudies quoted are not conclusive. This volumepoints out the fact that the knowledge of mentalillness is not complete and that too little is donein utilizing what is known. The very positivevalue of the book consists of drawing attentionto the vast problem and the need for the pri­mary prevention of mental disturbance in chil­dren. It is an excellent source of informationpertaining to research and is recommended toeveryone dealing professionally with children.

Adam J. Krakowski, M.D.

THE MERCK INDEX OF CHEMICALS ANDDRUGS. Paul G. Stecher, Editor. Seventh Edl·tion. Merck & Company, Inc., Rahway, NewJersey. Pp. 1642. $12.

This edition covers nearly 10,000 descriptionsof individual drugs, more than 3,000 structuralformulse, and about 30,000 names of chemicalsand drugs, alphabetically arranged and cross­indexed.

In addition to aU this, the book contains atable of international atomic weights and closeto 300 pages of material dealing with subjectsas diverse as calories in foods, Russian alphabet,coal-tar colors, antifreeze mixtures, etc., etc.

A featUl'e of the main section provides a bib­liographic reference for each drug, where pos­sible, and includes tOXicity and safety factors.

W.D.

MENTAL DRUGS: CHEMISTRY'S CHALLENGETO PSYCHOTHERAPY. By O. A. Battista. Phil·adelphia & New York: Chilton Company. 155pages. $3.95.

Dr. Battista states in his introduction that"this book will shock many and enrage morethan a few."

That it will do so is not an accident. Dr. Bat­tista is an experienced and lucid writer whosestyle is well adapted to mass media. He hasdrawn a clear if somewhat oversimplified pictureof the role of chemistry in our battle againstmental illness. After some introductory com­ments on the chemistry of bodily function, heturns to the use of hallucinogenic substances anddiscusses the chemistry of schizophrenia. Theremaining chapters concern themselves with thetranquilizers and antidepressants.

The lay reader will find a complicated fieldmade simple by this exposition. However, themedical reader will be angered. Battista belit­tles psychotherapy and is especially hard onpsychoanalysis. One could easily understand themotives of a chemist who praises the contribu­tions of chemistry to the care of the mentallyill. However, one can only wonder about themotives of the author who found it necessary tocouple this with an attack on psychotherapy,psychoanalysis and "talk cures."

Laurence B. Wei8a, M.D.

PSYCHOANALYTIC CONCEPTS OF DEPRES­SION. Myer Mendelson, M.D. Springfield, 111.:Charles C. Thomas, 1960. 170 pages. $6.50.In this most informative and readable book,

the author presents a critical examination of au­thoritative contributions to the problem of de­pression. Not only has he carefully and thor­oughly reviewed pertinent literature, but he hasorganized the material to establish his objective.

He traces these recordings from Kraepelin,who emphasized the clinical and nosological as­pects of depression, through Bleuler who sharp­ened these concepts, to Freud and his followerswho introduced and developed genetic-dynamicfactors. The writings of Abraham, Rado, Klein,Gero, Bibring, Jacobson and Cohen are scrutin­ized. The author notes that much of what ap­pears in current literature on depression findsits origin less in the clinic and more in theoreti­cal metapsychologic excursions. Freud and Abra­ham, for example, took meticulous pains to de­fine the type of depression with which theyworked and avoided a generalized application toother forms of depression of the dynamics whichevolved In their studies. Later writers tend togloss over definition and generalize without heedfor controls.

Shortcomings and disagreements are uncom­fortably evident in the literature on depression.Yet much has been achieved in the dynamicclarification of this complex disease. Sclenti1lcevaluation abounds and psychoanalytic hypothe­ses are being more and more tested in empiricalstudies.

In addition, the author observes correctly thatthe subject of depression is much more complexthan the early closed system theories would haveled one to suspect. Indeed further stUdies, heconcludes, will approach the SUbject from a widevariety of points of view. The book is most in­teresting, timely and useful and is recommendedreading for all physicians interested in the sub­ject of depression. It is an excellent review forthe psychoanalytically oriented psychiatrist. Anextensive bibliography and a workable index areincluded.

George J. Train, M.D.