- Email: [email protected]
A Practicum of Group Psychotherapy
BOOK REVIEWS stant evaluation and re-evaluation of every facet of campus psychiatry. After describing the unique features of the college environment, Dr. Whittington introduces us to the patient population and explores the methods by which these potential patients may be approached. The process of psychiatric treatment is then described and the outcome assessed. Frequent use is made of follow-up studies. Finally, there is a brief peek at the future. The appendix contains a wealth of detail and shows the meticulous care with which the author has assembled his data. Many of the chapters are extremely short and quite a few of them have previously appeared as individual papers. Dr. Whittin/.{ton seems to have written this book primarily for psychiatrists. Many non-psychiatrists will have some difficulty with a sentence such as: "Lability of libidinal cathexis, a propensity to se<.'Ondary narcissism in the face of frustration or trauma, rapidity of libidinal and ego regression and reconstitution, ambivalence in affective life. . . ." To the colle/.{e physician the most readable sections will be those devoted to case illustrations. All in all, this is a good book but it could be more valuable if it were directed more to the needs of the nonpsychiatrist college physician who must still carry the patient load in most colleges. LEONARD
J.
SCHIFF, M.D.
A PRACTICUM OF GROUP P5rCHOTHERAPr. Asya L. Kadis, Jack D. Krasner, Charles Winick ami S. H. Foulkes. New rork: Harper and Row. 1861'ages. 1963. $6.50. This is a handbook of group psychotherapy based on the authors' rich experience with a wide variety of patients and treatment st'Wngs. Assuming that the patient is in the /.{roup for the reason that he expects to chan/.{e, it is the responsibility of the therapist to discover, largely by inference, his motivation and to see that what is learned can be used constructively. Rt'cognizing and dealin/.{ with the powerful and devious resistances to change is a cooperative effort on the part of therapist and patient. Three chapters are concerned with the practical aspects of developing a /.{roup therapy program, institutional and private. Formation of a group from the therapiSt's individual patient load may have a boomeran/.{ effect because of its threat to the patient's loss of exclusiveness. The symbolic as well as the real importance of fees and the advantages of homogeneous and h(,terogeneous groups are two other topics discussed. Under certain conditions, psychotics, horderline schizophrenit.-s and patients with character disorders may be included in groups of neurotics. Some borderline and latent schizophrenics do well in analytic !,'TOUPS because of their productivity in working with dreams, while others, because of their tendency to provoke hostility, require considerable protection from the therapist. Structuring the 6rst session, the use of dreams, and problems of termination are other problems dealt with in a practical and detailed manner. In the therapy group a patient may be communicatNovember-December, 1966
ing on one or on several levels at the same time. Certain responses, unique and indigenous to such a group are called "G-responses." Knowledge of these responses is essential to the therapist's understanding of the homeostasis of the group. This chapter is the kernel of the book. For its practical guidance, sound methods, and readability this book is valuable not only to the therapist and student, but to all who seek further understanding of group therapy. ELIZABETH THOMA, PH.D.
THE CAT: FACTS ABOUT FANTASr. Mary R. Haworth. 322 1'ages. New l'ork: Grone & Stratton, Inc. 1966. $9.75. This is the 6rst fuJI-sized text to appear on the Children's Apperception Test (CAT). The author's coverage is extensive. She reviews all the research in theses and publications with relation to the viscissitudes in test administration, statistical strengths and weaknesses of the test, rationale, developmental studies and age trends, "normal" ('Ontrol samples of three to eight years old, interpretative techniques, the assessment of clinical disorders and illustrative protocols. the need for repeated testing over time and the alternate human and animal supplt'ments. This is a well-documented book. The culling of the best contributions is invaluable. The author's own schedule for identifying defenses from analysis of content criteria demonstrates fascinating dinical practicalities. The CAT of children is notably sparse. The clinician, therefore, welcomes evaluative scht'mes for eliciting needs and fears, ego structure, reality adaptation and relationships. These criteria are helpful for organizing a personality portrait. Critical an' signs of psychopatholo/"'Y and the areas of functioning in which the child needs help. Personality assessments alone are insufficient. We need to know hOte much more disturbed is a child compared to others of the same chronological age and the same psychic structure. The author has made a valiant heginning but sh(, is handicapped by an instrument that elicits skimpy information and over-/.{eneralized scoring techniques. Nevertheless, this text should be in the library of every social scientist, regardless of theoretical bias, who works with emotionally disturbed children. BENJAMIN KOTKov, PH.D.
THE THIN BOOK BY A FORMERLr FAT psrCHIATRIST. By Theodore 1. RulJill, M.D. Trident Press, New rork, 1966. A psychiatrist, /.{ifted in the art of communication. has provided an unusual "do-it-yours('\£,' manual for wei/.{ht reduction. This book, written by a physidan who is also a psychoanalyst and th(, author of "David and Lisa", points up the facts and fallacies of a truly all-American problem--overweight. The author, utilizin/.{ simple lan/.{ua/.{e. short chapters and common-sense psychiatry, has produced a most readable account. He stresses the importance
391
J.
SCHIFF, M.D.
A PRACTICUM OF GROUP P5rCHOTHERAPr. Asya L. Kadis, Jack D. Krasner, Charles Winick ami S. H. Foulkes. New rork: Harper and Row. 1861'ages. 1963. $6.50. This is a handbook of group psychotherapy based on the authors' rich experience with a wide variety of patients and treatment st'Wngs. Assuming that the patient is in the /.{roup for the reason that he expects to chan/.{e, it is the responsibility of the therapist to discover, largely by inference, his motivation and to see that what is learned can be used constructively. Rt'cognizing and dealin/.{ with the powerful and devious resistances to change is a cooperative effort on the part of therapist and patient. Three chapters are concerned with the practical aspects of developing a /.{roup therapy program, institutional and private. Formation of a group from the therapiSt's individual patient load may have a boomeran/.{ effect because of its threat to the patient's loss of exclusiveness. The symbolic as well as the real importance of fees and the advantages of homogeneous and h(,terogeneous groups are two other topics discussed. Under certain conditions, psychotics, horderline schizophrenit.-s and patients with character disorders may be included in groups of neurotics. Some borderline and latent schizophrenics do well in analytic !,'TOUPS because of their productivity in working with dreams, while others, because of their tendency to provoke hostility, require considerable protection from the therapist. Structuring the 6rst session, the use of dreams, and problems of termination are other problems dealt with in a practical and detailed manner. In the therapy group a patient may be communicatNovember-December, 1966
ing on one or on several levels at the same time. Certain responses, unique and indigenous to such a group are called "G-responses." Knowledge of these responses is essential to the therapist's understanding of the homeostasis of the group. This chapter is the kernel of the book. For its practical guidance, sound methods, and readability this book is valuable not only to the therapist and student, but to all who seek further understanding of group therapy. ELIZABETH THOMA, PH.D.
THE CAT: FACTS ABOUT FANTASr. Mary R. Haworth. 322 1'ages. New l'ork: Grone & Stratton, Inc. 1966. $9.75. This is the 6rst fuJI-sized text to appear on the Children's Apperception Test (CAT). The author's coverage is extensive. She reviews all the research in theses and publications with relation to the viscissitudes in test administration, statistical strengths and weaknesses of the test, rationale, developmental studies and age trends, "normal" ('Ontrol samples of three to eight years old, interpretative techniques, the assessment of clinical disorders and illustrative protocols. the need for repeated testing over time and the alternate human and animal supplt'ments. This is a well-documented book. The culling of the best contributions is invaluable. The author's own schedule for identifying defenses from analysis of content criteria demonstrates fascinating dinical practicalities. The CAT of children is notably sparse. The clinician, therefore, welcomes evaluative scht'mes for eliciting needs and fears, ego structure, reality adaptation and relationships. These criteria are helpful for organizing a personality portrait. Critical an' signs of psychopatholo/"'Y and the areas of functioning in which the child needs help. Personality assessments alone are insufficient. We need to know hOte much more disturbed is a child compared to others of the same chronological age and the same psychic structure. The author has made a valiant heginning but sh(, is handicapped by an instrument that elicits skimpy information and over-/.{eneralized scoring techniques. Nevertheless, this text should be in the library of every social scientist, regardless of theoretical bias, who works with emotionally disturbed children. BENJAMIN KOTKov, PH.D.
THE THIN BOOK BY A FORMERLr FAT psrCHIATRIST. By Theodore 1. RulJill, M.D. Trident Press, New rork, 1966. A psychiatrist, /.{ifted in the art of communication. has provided an unusual "do-it-yours('\£,' manual for wei/.{ht reduction. This book, written by a physidan who is also a psychoanalyst and th(, author of "David and Lisa", points up the facts and fallacies of a truly all-American problem--overweight. The author, utilizin/.{ simple lan/.{ua/.{e. short chapters and common-sense psychiatry, has produced a most readable account. He stresses the importance
391