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Childbirth Without Pain
1960
PSYCHOSOMATICS
hood Experiences in Adult Sexuality and Love: A Review of the Oedipus Complex," "The Pains of Boredom," "Constancy and Change," which indicate the exhaustive nature of the author's discussion. She points out that "Human beings, as they grow and develop, gradually acquire a variety of powers. They learn how to reason, how to organize their thoughts, their feelings and their lives; they discover how to exercise control over the world outside and the world of their own inner experiences. These skills-reasoning, organizing and control-and many others make up the entity that we call the human ego. Love and sexuality move the world. They produce experiences that are indispensable for survival." Throughout the book, she illustrates all points with case reports which are well presented. On page 278, she points out: "Successful monogamy requires highly developed mates whose psyche and body can reconcile the need fo~ steadiness with the need for change. Changes come about 1) through exploring and enjoying the external world in an adventurous way, and 2) through psychological vivacity and Variability. Panoramic feelings, thoughts, motivations, actions and sexual experiences are developed in contact with a mate who is similarly capable of change. New partners need not be sought if inner experiences are constantly rejuvenated." At the end of the book is a list of references according to chapters, and the whole is well indexed. James L. McCartney, M.D.
Garden City, N. Y.
CHILDBIRTH WITHOUT PAIN. By Dr. Pierre Venay and others. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1960. 216"s. $3.95. Dr. Vellay is a former associate of the late Dr. Femand Lamaze who brought the Pavlovian psychopropylactic method of childbirth back to France from Russia in 1951. The basis of the "method" is the conditioned r.etlex of Pavlov as applied to women in labor. Education of the pregnant woman for childbirth, and physical training including relaxation are utilized to "condition" the patient so that she may deliver without pain. Additionally she is attended during labor by ancillary personnel who are skilled in the physiotherapeutic. techniques and offer her support. The author stresses the difference between this approach and that utilized by those who advocate "natural childbirth." He believes that thiS is a more positive approach because it is based on neural mechanisms described by Pavlov. The book is a translation from the French and consists of the lectures and exercises which are given to the patients. It includes many case re-
177
ports ai well as a theoretical discussion of the method. This book should be of interest;to anyone who practices obstetrics with a psych08l3matic orientation. The exercises are different from thoee taught to pregnant women in this country and one wishes that they had been described more fully and perhaps in a separate and more organized fashion. There are many ideas which are worthy of consideration and application. This reviewer feels that the differences between this approach and that of the "Read" method are more apparent than real, and are perhaps more of a semantic than a physiological nature. We do not know all we should know about the psychology of reproduction, and our approach to the pregnant woman can always stand improvement and new idea:J. Frederick W. Goodrich, Jr. New London, Conn.
GENERAL .PSYCHOTHERAPY. By John G. Watkins, Ph.D. Springfield, illinois: Chas. C. Thomas, 1960. 255 pages. $9,25. This unusual book is a well organized stUdy guide of various psychological treatments. It is a sincere attempt, and a successful one, to bring order out of the confusion of theories that pervade the tleld of psychotherapy. Dr. Watkins has designed the book as an outline and guide rather than to add another ponderous text book to the literature. It will provide the reader the means of obtaining further knowledge of all possible approaches in that it provides an extensive bibliography every step of the way. W.D.
THANK YOU, DR. LAMAZE. By Marlorle Karmel. J. B. Lippincott Company. 1959. 188 pgs. $2.95. It is always interesting and often valuable for doctors to have tlrst hand reports from their patients on the results of therapy. When the therapy is psychosomatically based and the p&uent is as objective as Mrs. Karmel the report is dOUbly valuable. The author describes her experiences during pregnancy and labor with the Pavlovian psychoprophylaxls as practiced by the obstetrician who imported it to France from Russia, the late Dr. Fernand Lamaze. This is a complete account, not only of the method but of the reactions to it of a healthily skeptical American girl. Mrs. Karmel is a convert and rightly so. The second part of the book describes her experiences in a second pregnancy in this country and includes an account of her attempt to tlnd a sympathetic obstetrician. This is a penetrating analysis, written with insight and hu-
PSYCHOSOMATICS
hood Experiences in Adult Sexuality and Love: A Review of the Oedipus Complex," "The Pains of Boredom," "Constancy and Change," which indicate the exhaustive nature of the author's discussion. She points out that "Human beings, as they grow and develop, gradually acquire a variety of powers. They learn how to reason, how to organize their thoughts, their feelings and their lives; they discover how to exercise control over the world outside and the world of their own inner experiences. These skills-reasoning, organizing and control-and many others make up the entity that we call the human ego. Love and sexuality move the world. They produce experiences that are indispensable for survival." Throughout the book, she illustrates all points with case reports which are well presented. On page 278, she points out: "Successful monogamy requires highly developed mates whose psyche and body can reconcile the need fo~ steadiness with the need for change. Changes come about 1) through exploring and enjoying the external world in an adventurous way, and 2) through psychological vivacity and Variability. Panoramic feelings, thoughts, motivations, actions and sexual experiences are developed in contact with a mate who is similarly capable of change. New partners need not be sought if inner experiences are constantly rejuvenated." At the end of the book is a list of references according to chapters, and the whole is well indexed. James L. McCartney, M.D.
Garden City, N. Y.
CHILDBIRTH WITHOUT PAIN. By Dr. Pierre Venay and others. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc. 1960. 216"s. $3.95. Dr. Vellay is a former associate of the late Dr. Femand Lamaze who brought the Pavlovian psychopropylactic method of childbirth back to France from Russia in 1951. The basis of the "method" is the conditioned r.etlex of Pavlov as applied to women in labor. Education of the pregnant woman for childbirth, and physical training including relaxation are utilized to "condition" the patient so that she may deliver without pain. Additionally she is attended during labor by ancillary personnel who are skilled in the physiotherapeutic. techniques and offer her support. The author stresses the difference between this approach and that utilized by those who advocate "natural childbirth." He believes that thiS is a more positive approach because it is based on neural mechanisms described by Pavlov. The book is a translation from the French and consists of the lectures and exercises which are given to the patients. It includes many case re-
177
ports ai well as a theoretical discussion of the method. This book should be of interest;to anyone who practices obstetrics with a psych08l3matic orientation. The exercises are different from thoee taught to pregnant women in this country and one wishes that they had been described more fully and perhaps in a separate and more organized fashion. There are many ideas which are worthy of consideration and application. This reviewer feels that the differences between this approach and that of the "Read" method are more apparent than real, and are perhaps more of a semantic than a physiological nature. We do not know all we should know about the psychology of reproduction, and our approach to the pregnant woman can always stand improvement and new idea:J. Frederick W. Goodrich, Jr. New London, Conn.
GENERAL .PSYCHOTHERAPY. By John G. Watkins, Ph.D. Springfield, illinois: Chas. C. Thomas, 1960. 255 pages. $9,25. This unusual book is a well organized stUdy guide of various psychological treatments. It is a sincere attempt, and a successful one, to bring order out of the confusion of theories that pervade the tleld of psychotherapy. Dr. Watkins has designed the book as an outline and guide rather than to add another ponderous text book to the literature. It will provide the reader the means of obtaining further knowledge of all possible approaches in that it provides an extensive bibliography every step of the way. W.D.
THANK YOU, DR. LAMAZE. By Marlorle Karmel. J. B. Lippincott Company. 1959. 188 pgs. $2.95. It is always interesting and often valuable for doctors to have tlrst hand reports from their patients on the results of therapy. When the therapy is psychosomatically based and the p&uent is as objective as Mrs. Karmel the report is dOUbly valuable. The author describes her experiences during pregnancy and labor with the Pavlovian psychoprophylaxls as practiced by the obstetrician who imported it to France from Russia, the late Dr. Fernand Lamaze. This is a complete account, not only of the method but of the reactions to it of a healthily skeptical American girl. Mrs. Karmel is a convert and rightly so. The second part of the book describes her experiences in a second pregnancy in this country and includes an account of her attempt to tlnd a sympathetic obstetrician. This is a penetrating analysis, written with insight and hu-