Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
PSYCHOSOMATICS
excellent study. It should be read by all those inthe legal field whose path is likely to cross that ofactual or would-be murderers.
One reservation, however, must be made. Inspite of its dramatic relevance in our society,homicide represents only one half the cause ofdeath compared to suicide, only one fifth of thatbrought about by that most lethal of agents, theautomobile.
ROBERT S. PICARD, M.D.
FRAMES OF MIND: ABILITY PERCEPTIONAND SELF-PBRCEPTION IN THE ARTSAND SCIENCBS. by Liam Hud8on, Ph. D., NewYork: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 134 pages. $5.50.
Dr. Hudson starts from the investigationsdescribed in his Contrary Imaginatiotl8, in whichhe identified two types among schoolboys, theconverger and the diverger, who tended towardthe sciences or the arts, respectively. The focusin Frames of Mind is on "... the influence of theindividual's perception, both of his academic context and of himself, on the intellectual ability heis free to display".
Connections are substantiated between convergence and respect for authority and betweenconvergence and masculinity. Profiles are establi!'hcd of school boys' conceptions of professionsranging from the sciences through the arts. Their(INH'riptions conform to the "myths" of thesepoles. They also categorize themselves accordingto traditional patterns, depending on whether theywere science or arts specialists.
Dr. Hudson conducted further tests showingthat convergers learn best from teachers who areconvergers while divergers do better with teaches who are divergers as acknowledged both bythemselves and by their students. Also, althoughconvergers do better in school through gradetwelve, divergers surpass them after entrance touniversity level work.
Dr. Hudson notes the limitations of his testing and implications. He also suggests topics forfurther investigations, such as the function offear in students and the home climate of convergers and divergers.
The studies related and the prose of Framesof Mind are British. The reader will find muchof interest.
MYRON H. MARSHALL, M.D.
PSYCHOTHERAPY IN TIlE DESIGNED THERAPEUTIC MILIEU. By Stanley H. Eldred, M.D.awl Mauricp- Vanderpol, M.D. Boston: Little,Brown and Co. (International PsychiatryClinics Vol. 5, No.1).
This boole is a review of experiences of fourteen psychiatrists interested in a therapeutic ap-
68
prosch to treatment of patients in psychiatl-:ccenters. Each participant in the review considersthe approach of changing behavior to effecteventual improved functioning in the family orcommunity setting.
Environmental interventions have proved tobe a successfUl form of therapy for more than adecade and treating psychotic persons in thisway is gaining favor in many centers, both withindividual and group therapy. As the environmenthas been manipulated and as the patient is beingseen earlier in his illness there has been less reliance on medication and other forms of therapy.Le., shock.
The team approach is discussed comprehensively by Dr. Louis L. Robbins in his chapter "EgoPsychology and the Milieu at the Mental Hospital" using attitude therapy intervention. Also,other team members have utilized a therapeuticapproach with all types of behavior to causechange. Consistency was emphasized in manipulating ego control.
Dr. Will, in his review of the above mentionedchapter, states specific steps toward intervention: namely - cultural, social, interpersonal,climatic. geographic. etc., stating that these influences condition behavior (past. present, andfuture). Also, he goes on to state that "psychiatric disorders are not defined as diseases in theclassic medical sense. but are to an extent theresult of learning to exist With a minimum ofanxiety and with maximum satisfaction".
To me this book would be usefUl to anyonepracticing therapy within any setting whether itbe hospital. home or out-patient clinic.
WALTER C. BRUSCHI, M.D.
CLINICAL PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY OFANXIETY. By J.R. Wittenborn, Ph.D. Chas. C.Thomas, Springfield, 1966.
The treatment of diverse psychiatric states bydru~s is empiric and the target symptom approachis the most widely used. Anxiety. as a symptom,is one of the most prevalent targets of pharmacotherapy. In this volume, Wittenborn reviews theliterature of controlled studies of anti-anxietyagents to extend our knowledge of their mode ofaction. to better define the criteria for their useand their methods of evaluation.
The volume begins with a classiftcat'on ofanxiety and formal methods of descriptive assessment by rating scales. Four chapters are devotedto selected reviews of drugs effective in anxietystates. anxiety in depressed states. alcoholism andgeriatrics. The author's interl'st in statisticalmanipulations of rating scale data ;s exemplifiedin two chapters which analyze extensive data fromuncontrolled evaluations of oxazepam (from the
Volume XI
