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The Writings of Anna Freud
BOOK REVIEWS
THE WRITINGS OF ANNA FREUD. Vol. ./. 1922-1935. Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Lectures for Child Analysts and Teachers, International Universities Press. New York, NY, 1974. $7.50, 200 pp.
along with teachers and parents and the interested laity. For the informed, it is an exciting review. GEORGE J. TRAIN, M.D. BROOKLYN, N.Y.
Certain scientific books provide historical background exclusively. Others in addition present content which has current applicability. Such is the nature of this one. Its author bears the electrifying name widely known in the struggle to understand and explain human behavior, both normal and disturbed. These writings are a major contribution to the assistance of children in their development and to the technique of child analysis. Anna Freud's book is the first of seven volumes and covers the period from 1922-1935. It consists of three parts. The first deals with child analysis--preparation, methods, the role of transference and the upbringing of children; it includes interesting references to the difference between adult and child analysis. There are four lectures on psychoanalysis for teachers and parents in Part 2 and it treats of infantile amnesia and the edipus complex, the instructual life of early childhood, the latency period and the relationship between psychoanalysis and education. In Part 3, appears discussions of beating fantasies and daydreams, hysterical symptoms in a child of two, the theory of child analysis, and the upbringing of the young child.
• • • •
The cardinal differences between child analysis of the time and now, the author declares, are two. Currently, parents and teachers can be trusted to supplement analytic efforts. Too, preparation for analysis has given way to analysis of defensive mechanisms and maneuvers. The preparation described, however, appears to remain essential. Is it education or is it analysis? Freud emphasizes the winning of a child's confidence by being interesting, useful. assuring and giving the impression of being powerful, even to the promise of cure, with certain privisos, however. In converting a satisfying symptom like exhibitionism to a disturbing foreign body in the child requires an affectionate attachment-"They obtain from the analyst what they have until now expected in vain from the original objects." How true this is even for the adult in psychoanalytic treatment. The lectures for teachers and parents were commissioned by the Board of Education of the City of Vienna and considerable psychoanalytic activity was in evidence here from 1927 until 1938 when Hitler dispersed its workers. The successful teacher, the author states, blends in with the superego of the child and converts a compulsive obedience to a voluntary submission to form an united group. Is this what Hitler was able to accomplish with adults? I have often wondered whether there were among his loyal followers, workers, children and parents who accepted psychoanalytic influence or were subjected to it under protest. The book contains an extensive bibliography and a workable index. Anna Freud's writings have always been informative, useful, well organized and easy reading for me. This book is no exception. I recommend it unqualifiedly for workers in the field of human behavior, whether or not interested in psychoanalysis,
Aoril/Mav/June. 1975
SOCIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR: MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE SEVENTIES: Edited by Georve V. Coelho and Eli A. Rubenstein. National Institwe of Mell/al Health, Rockville, Maryland, 1972. Pp. 273. $2.75. The accelerated rate of social change will probably be the dominant historical aspect of 20th century life. This multiauthored volume presents the Proceedings of a series of NIMH Staff Seminars on Social Change held in 1970. The first three chapters discuss the ethological basis for social change and the evolution of culture. The fourth chapter, Robert Lifton's "Psychological Man in Revolution: The Struggle for Communal Resymbolization," is outstanding. It alone warrants the purchase of this book. Faced with the disruption of life styles produced by rapid social change. two major emerging psychological types emerge. One is protean man who can engage in experimental living patterns and the other is constricted man who shuns experimentation and attempts to cling to the symbols of the past. Lifton stresses that social change demands communal resymbolization and transformation in patterns of living which will provide meaningful roles and a vitalized daily existence for human beings in the latter decades of this century. Furthermore, mental health models must be developed that will be innovative and responsive to felt needs rather than tied to programs that become outmoded because they are dependent on social stability. Other chapters that discuss the findings of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography and governmental programs for Drug Abuse explode some popular myths about these problems. They point out that governmental action has not followed recommendations presented by experts and that federal programs, consequently, have not had salutary results. The final chapters focus on the necessity for worldwide transformations, cooperation rather than confrontation, to meet the sociopsychiatric challenges produced by our rapidly changing technoculture. Through research the behavioral sciences can contribute to the development of ways of life and community programs that meet the challenges produced by rapid social change. As is true of most multiauthored volumes that present the proceedings of conferences, this one lacks coherence and its quality varies from chapter to chapter. However, this inexpensive book is recommended; several of the chapters are outstanding essays on various aspects of an exceedingly important topic. JOHN J. SCHWAB, M.D. Professor & Chairman Dept. of Psychiatry University of Louisville KENTUCKY
93
THE WRITINGS OF ANNA FREUD. Vol. ./. 1922-1935. Introduction to Psychoanalysis, Lectures for Child Analysts and Teachers, International Universities Press. New York, NY, 1974. $7.50, 200 pp.
along with teachers and parents and the interested laity. For the informed, it is an exciting review. GEORGE J. TRAIN, M.D. BROOKLYN, N.Y.
Certain scientific books provide historical background exclusively. Others in addition present content which has current applicability. Such is the nature of this one. Its author bears the electrifying name widely known in the struggle to understand and explain human behavior, both normal and disturbed. These writings are a major contribution to the assistance of children in their development and to the technique of child analysis. Anna Freud's book is the first of seven volumes and covers the period from 1922-1935. It consists of three parts. The first deals with child analysis--preparation, methods, the role of transference and the upbringing of children; it includes interesting references to the difference between adult and child analysis. There are four lectures on psychoanalysis for teachers and parents in Part 2 and it treats of infantile amnesia and the edipus complex, the instructual life of early childhood, the latency period and the relationship between psychoanalysis and education. In Part 3, appears discussions of beating fantasies and daydreams, hysterical symptoms in a child of two, the theory of child analysis, and the upbringing of the young child.
• • • •
The cardinal differences between child analysis of the time and now, the author declares, are two. Currently, parents and teachers can be trusted to supplement analytic efforts. Too, preparation for analysis has given way to analysis of defensive mechanisms and maneuvers. The preparation described, however, appears to remain essential. Is it education or is it analysis? Freud emphasizes the winning of a child's confidence by being interesting, useful. assuring and giving the impression of being powerful, even to the promise of cure, with certain privisos, however. In converting a satisfying symptom like exhibitionism to a disturbing foreign body in the child requires an affectionate attachment-"They obtain from the analyst what they have until now expected in vain from the original objects." How true this is even for the adult in psychoanalytic treatment. The lectures for teachers and parents were commissioned by the Board of Education of the City of Vienna and considerable psychoanalytic activity was in evidence here from 1927 until 1938 when Hitler dispersed its workers. The successful teacher, the author states, blends in with the superego of the child and converts a compulsive obedience to a voluntary submission to form an united group. Is this what Hitler was able to accomplish with adults? I have often wondered whether there were among his loyal followers, workers, children and parents who accepted psychoanalytic influence or were subjected to it under protest. The book contains an extensive bibliography and a workable index. Anna Freud's writings have always been informative, useful, well organized and easy reading for me. This book is no exception. I recommend it unqualifiedly for workers in the field of human behavior, whether or not interested in psychoanalysis,
Aoril/Mav/June. 1975
SOCIAL CHANGE AND HUMAN BEHAVIOR: MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES OF THE SEVENTIES: Edited by Georve V. Coelho and Eli A. Rubenstein. National Institwe of Mell/al Health, Rockville, Maryland, 1972. Pp. 273. $2.75. The accelerated rate of social change will probably be the dominant historical aspect of 20th century life. This multiauthored volume presents the Proceedings of a series of NIMH Staff Seminars on Social Change held in 1970. The first three chapters discuss the ethological basis for social change and the evolution of culture. The fourth chapter, Robert Lifton's "Psychological Man in Revolution: The Struggle for Communal Resymbolization," is outstanding. It alone warrants the purchase of this book. Faced with the disruption of life styles produced by rapid social change. two major emerging psychological types emerge. One is protean man who can engage in experimental living patterns and the other is constricted man who shuns experimentation and attempts to cling to the symbols of the past. Lifton stresses that social change demands communal resymbolization and transformation in patterns of living which will provide meaningful roles and a vitalized daily existence for human beings in the latter decades of this century. Furthermore, mental health models must be developed that will be innovative and responsive to felt needs rather than tied to programs that become outmoded because they are dependent on social stability. Other chapters that discuss the findings of the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography and governmental programs for Drug Abuse explode some popular myths about these problems. They point out that governmental action has not followed recommendations presented by experts and that federal programs, consequently, have not had salutary results. The final chapters focus on the necessity for worldwide transformations, cooperation rather than confrontation, to meet the sociopsychiatric challenges produced by our rapidly changing technoculture. Through research the behavioral sciences can contribute to the development of ways of life and community programs that meet the challenges produced by rapid social change. As is true of most multiauthored volumes that present the proceedings of conferences, this one lacks coherence and its quality varies from chapter to chapter. However, this inexpensive book is recommended; several of the chapters are outstanding essays on various aspects of an exceedingly important topic. JOHN J. SCHWAB, M.D. Professor & Chairman Dept. of Psychiatry University of Louisville KENTUCKY
93