No one is better fitted than Lawrence Kubie to write about the creative process, for he has been persistently and consistently one of the most creative psychoanalysts and psychiatrists in modern times. He has ranged from the field of neurology, in which he first described the closed circuits in silent systems of the brain, a contribution which was a precursor to our modern concepts of feed-back mechanisms. He was one of the first to study behavior in animals from birth on in an attempt to correlate stages in behavior with the development of function in various parts of the central nervous system. Later Kubie directed his creative powers to the field of psychoanalysis and psychiatry, in which much of his work is now classic. Surely a creative person can speak authentically about the creative process. The book begins with a statement of three purposes: one, to demonstrate the universality of
This is a well-organized presentation of a complex subject, written by an enthusiastic teacher of psychoanalysis. His enthusiasm sets the tone of the book, which is persuasive rather than objective. For the book leaves one with the impression that the author's aim was not so much to examine the theory of psychoanalytic technique as to impress upon the student the meaning of his role, the ethics of his function, and the significance which his personality plays in the psychoanalytic process. He appeals to the student to acquire the proper psychoanalytic "attitude" of patience, objectivity, and sincere respect for the patient's illness, since this—which in this reviewer's opinion must be more than attitude—makes the long stretches of seeming passivity of the psychoanalyst bearable for him and effective for his patient. The psychoanalytic process begins when the "two-party contract" between patient and therapist becomes effective. The basic rules of the psychoanalytic method—free
Reversible figures are drawings in which figure and ground appear to alternate on continued inspection (e. g., the Rubin vase, Fig. 1A), or in which perspective appears to shift (e. g., the Necker cube, Fig. 1B); in yet a third type, a moving pattern, such as the vanes of a windmill, seems to reverse the direction of its movement. The neural mechanisms underlying these apparent fluctuations remain obscure, despite numerous investigations involving such aspects of the patterns as size (Washburn, Mallay, and Naylor34; Cohen5), "complexity" (Donahue and Griffitts7; Washburn, Reagan, and Thurston35), or brightness (Mull, Ord, and Locke19). That retrochiasmal processes are involved, however, is suggested by two facts: (a) In figures with reversible perspective or movement, rate of apparent change (RAC) increases with continued fixation (Köhler15; Brown3; Cohen5), and (b) inspection of a reversible figure with one eye causes an
Dr. Midelfort has presented an account of his experiences in treating patients and family groups in the Lutheran Hospital in La Crosse, Wis. Theoretical aspects of his approach are illustrated with case material, including excerpts of interviews and their interpretation. Getting the family involved in the therapeutic effort is frequently facilitated by the custom of having family members remain in the hospital as aides and companions to the patient. This interesting procedure is unique in American hospitals. Discussion could have profitably been devoted to the implications of the therapeutic milieu, but the author chose to focus only on therapist-family-patient interactions. A basic premise of the work is that the family must be considered as the unit in which illness occurs and that only through melioration of the different psychopathologies in the family can mental health be achieved for any individual member. The author's attempt to offer a conceptual basis for
Since it is through perception that man knows, and so can act in, his physical and social world, the study of perception has properly been of central concern throughout the history of modern psychology. That perception involves more than the simple representation of the attributes of impinging physical stimuli is well known, though variously interpreted. However, both theory and research have been concerned, in the main, with the perception of things principally in terms of the relation between the psychologically experienced and the physically measured stimulus attributes. Within recent years, however, systematic attention has been turned to the perception of persons , and to the relation between person perception and other aspects of social behavior. Person perception exists, according to Tagiure, whenever "the perceiver regards the object as having a potential of representation and intentionality." Or, as Newcomb states elsewhere in this volume, "humans cognize other humans as being also cognizers."
Myasthenia gravis is characterized by weakness and excessive fatigue of striated muscles without anatomic changes in the nervous system or in the muscle proper except for occasional lymphorrhagias. While any of the muscles may be affected by the myasthenic process, there is a predilection for certain muscle groups, particularly those innervated by cranial nerves. Weakness of extraocular muscles with diplopia and ptosis, facial weakness and weakness of mastication and deglutition, dysarthria and, most important, dyspnea are found at one time or another in most of the typical cases. The course of the disease is quite unpredictable. The onset is often insidious but sometimes it may be fulminating. The distribution of weakness vanes a great deal from time to time in any given patient, as does the response to therapeutic measures. Spontaneous remissions occur in a fairly high percentage of cases. Sudden exacerbations, especially in association with upper respiratory infections but also at the height of apparent recovery, may precipitate a fatal crisis. In some cases, adequate restitution of muscle strength may occur with rest alone, but in most instances drug therapy is needed. Failure of the vital functions of swallowing and breathing require special measures. In view of the variations in the course of the disease, flexible longrange planning of treatment as well as anticipation of emergencies is necessary. The use of drugs, especially neostigmine, as well as other forms of therapy will be considered in this paper.
This book is an English translation of material presented in 1937 before the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society and then published in German in 1939 in a psychoanalytic periodical. In the year 1958 Dr. Hartmann was presented the Charles Frederick Menninger Award for the impact of this book on psychoanalytic theory and method through the intervening years. Apparently, the publication of the book today in an English translation is motivated by the desire to make available the first formal consideration of ego psychology in the psychoanalytic field and the beginnings of a new direction in psychoanalysis. However, Hartmann's publications in the subsequent twenty years, along with those of his colleagues, have amplified and advanced the field of ego psychology far beyond what is in this initial work. There is a serious defect in this book for which the editorial board of theJournal of the American Psychoanalytic Associationshould be held responsible.
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The authors give as reasons for publishing this study of the syndrome of tetany, that the syndrome has lately been neglected, it is of physiopathological interest, and recent technical advances have made new discoveries possible. They make no attempt to cover material to be found in other standard treatises but, rather, concentrate on conceptions which are less well known. After a brief summary of the historical development of the syndrome described and named by Trousseau, the clinical symptomatology is succinctly outlined. The authors then undertake to answer three fundamental questions. That of the semiological criteria necessary to the diagnosis, especially in the periods between crises and in abortive cases. That of the physiopathological interpretation of the symptoms believed to be properly tetanic. That of the conditions in which the syndrome appears, and more precisely its pathological etiology. They point out that the facts which are solidly established are not numerous.
The relationship of increased cerebral venous pressure to ventricular enlargement and hydrocephalus has never been satisfactorily worked out. The interdependence of intracranial pressure and cerebral venous pressure has been recognized both in clinical problems and in experimental studies, but the possibility of cerebral venous pressure as a primary cause of ventricular enlargement has remained a controversial issue. Dandy 2 stated that the occlusion of the vein of Galen would cause hydrocephalus. Others have tried this and other types of experimental venous occlusions, with varying results. Russell, 4 in her monograph on hydrocephalus, reviewed much of this work, including some experimental work of her own, and concluded that, while hydrocephalus had apparently been produced in some instances, the results were, in general, equivocal. These experimental attempts to produce hydrocephalus from increased venous pressure were all based upon local occlusion of a cerebral vein or dural sinus. This allowed the possibility that
This is a paperback edition intended for use by patients, their families, and other lay persons who are concerned or interested in the problem of epilepsy. These readers will be able to obtain a great deal of useful information from this book. The nonpatient may improve his attitudes toward the epileptic in society or in school. The patient may better understand his disorder and his participation in therapy thereby improve. It should be recognized, however, that some of the approaches to diagnosis and treatment outlined in this book are those personally recommended by the author and are not necessarily uniformly accepted. Petit mal, for example, is less definitely defined than many will prefer, and the assumed specificity of the waves in the electroencephalogram is doubtful. The methods for narcosis treatment and for rapid trial of different medications are not as widely accepted as might be implied. In spite of relatively
Primary sarcoma of the brain is rare, having been estimated to comprise only 0.25% of all intracerebral neoplasms.1The relative paucity of recorded cases, as well as the uncertain nosologic position of some glial cells, has apparently impeded their precise classification. The various appellations utilized for some intracerebral sarcomas with similar morphologic features and biologic behavior have further complicated the study of this group of neoplasms. The recent studies of Feigin and associates2,3have satisfactorily demonstrated the vascular origin of that form of sarcomatous growth observed in some glioblastomas. However, much debate has occurred concerning that form of malignant mesoblastic cerebral neoplasm most commonly referred to as microglioma, or reticulum-cell sarcoma. Since the studies of Hortega4and, subsequently, Dunning and Furth5have indicated that the microglial cells represent the reticuloendothelial elements of the central nervous system, it would appear that much of the controversy concerning this
The spirit and flavor of this book are exemplified in these words from the Preface: "The technic of modern psychoanalysis, with reasonable correctness, might be distilled to this quintessence—the analyst must understand and bring the patient to understand as quickly, accurately and thoroughly as possible the patient's present emotional life as it is related to and is an outgrowth of his past, particularly of the pattern shaped during his most formative years (0 to 6) by the influences on him. Then, in the individual sessions, the analyst discerns and repeatedly shows the patient, through the common element (the red thread) of the associations, especially as seen in dreams, the central, presenting motivational point of each hour and the disordered childhood emotional pattern which this is repeating in life, especially, and consistently as this pattern is transferred from the childhood figures to the analyst. The goal of so doing is to
In this slender volume Mrs. Klein has set herself the task of exploring the earliest sources of two attitudes—envy and gratitude. Using poetic illustrations, as well as her own psychoanalytic language, she draws a clear and intricate picture of what she means by these two words. Observations taken from the analyses of four adult patients further illuminate her subject matter. Her perceptive and thoughtful discussion should enrich our understanding of emotional states and thereby contribute to our therapeutic effectiveness, even though most of us who are not at home in Kleinian psychology may find the reading a bit arduous. One contribution of the book is the author's sensitive appreciation of the complex fusion of affects and fantasies which comprise both envy and gratitude, and her attempt to distinguish them from other affective states or attitudes. It is this complexity, in addition to her reconstructive method, which makes it difficult for
This book was published first some twenty years ago. The main feature of this edition is a new epilogue in which the problems explored in the book are again examined but in a different frame of reference. In this manner, the epilogue is a bit like psychotherapy, in which data already known are reexamined and reinterpreted in the light of a more comprehensive view of the world. Because my own intersts are primarily in the area of the new epilogue, I shall comment mainly upon this aspect of the book. The book as a whole reports upon an anthropological investigation of a New Guinea tribe characterized by an elaborate system of ceremonies (naven) carried out as an aspect of the relation between men and their sisters' sons. This ceremony appears to be a sort of ritual evaluation of significant events in the life of the nephew; generally it has a
In the preface to this latest of his five superbly written books, Dr. Pearson modestly informs us that he is presenting in as simple a form as possible some of the knowledge about adolesence gained from psychoanalytic research. He adds that the book was written for students of medicine, psychology, psychiatry, social work, and sociology, as well as the adolescent and his parents. While recent years, and particularly this past one, have witnessed the appearance of an increasing number of articles and books on the subject of adolescence, Dr. Pearson's emphasis on the "conflict of generations" makes his approach unique. He offers us a newer and clearer understanding of the mutual effect of adult and teen-ager upon one another. When the author tells us that several volumes could be written on each of the various aspects of adolescence which he discusses in his book, he is undoubtedly correct; yet one
The impressive list of contributors to this new volume on pharmacology gives good evidence of its quality. There are nineteen major divisions, with eighty-eight special subdivisions, each written by a specialist well qualified in the subject. It brings up to date the growing amount of information on drug therapy. Of special interest are the sections on drugs influencing behavior, water and salt balance, and chemotherapy. Drugs effective in the treatment of epilepsy are fully discussed, along with an excellent general statement concerning their clinical use. The section on cholinergic drugs presents as concise and recent a statement about these drugs and their use in neurological disorders, such as myasthenia gravis, as can be found anywhere. Each section is clearly written and presents data concerning mechanisms of drug action, toxicity, effects on various systems, and therapeutic usage. This book is a valuable reference and should serve as an outstanding text for
