A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF "THE PRACTICE OF DYNAMIC PSYCHIATRY" BY JULES H. MASSERMAN

Abstract

The topography of the psychological sciences changes so rapidly that it requires alert cartographers to keep our store of blueprints up to date. Beyond map-making there is a need for a synthesis, a re-evaluation and a sifting of all that psychoanalytic theory, clinical psychiatry, clinical psychology, neuro-physiology and common sense psychotherapy have contributed to modern psychiatric practice. Masserman's present volume is more than a blueprint: it is a re-assessment of the vast quantity of material which the modern psychiatrist should have absorbed in applying his art. Although definitely colored by the particular abilities and distinguishing characteristics of the writer, the disciplines which build up to a clinical psychiatry of 1956 are clearly presented. The student and practitioner of psychiatry would be provided, on reading this book, with a lull conceptual background for understanding the practical handling of problems that are presented to him