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Clinical studies in childhood psychoses. 25 years in collaborative treatment and research:
Behar. Res & Therapy. 1976.Vol 14. pp 38’+390.Pergamon
Press.
BOOK
Printed
m Great
Brltam
REVIEWS
ALAN S. GERMAN and DAVID G. RICE (Eds). Couples
in Conflict.
Jason
Aronson.
New York,
1975. 439~~.
This collection of twenty-two papers constitutes the nearest approximation to a textbook of Marital Therapy that we have at the moment. In a single volume it covers the historical development of the field. empirical research findings. details of actual therapy practice, reviews of outcome studies, and sketches of possible future developments. The editors have not selected papers to represent any particular theoretical stance. of which there are many; but this is not to say that we have the usual anaemic eclectic approach. Rather. Gurman and Rice have chosen papers from several perspectives that are nearly all critical and incisive in nature. Indeed. several writers are perhaps over-rejecting of some of the earlier exploratory work. The final result of the book is neatly to present the reader with both positive and negative points relating to most of the important issues and methods. Couples in Conflict’ is obviously of great use to any newcomer to Marital Therapy and can wholeheartedly be recommended to students; but I am sure it will also appeal to many more experienced readers (and I am sure that it should be read by those experienced practitioners who badly need a dose of sound. empirically-based discussion). Admittedly more advanced readers will find many of the articles are already well-known. but five have been prepared especially for this edition and several others concern methodologies not yet seen frequently in the clinic. For example. I particularly liked the section on facilitating communication skill (one marital complaint probably heard in frequency second only to sexual problems), especially the paper by Robert Carter and Edwin Thomas who use corrective feedback and instruction as a modification technique. Unlike many behaviour modification programs (see in this collection the papers by Robert Liberman and Richard Stuart) the authors reject the assumption that couples do not communicate simply because their pattern of interaction is such that communication is seldom actually elicited. Behavioural programs too often assume that communication will be improved if. say. the wife’s cooking dinner is made contingent upon the husband’s making an effort to converse for ten minutes. Rather, Carter and Thomas implicitly argue that some people do not know how to communicate. A behaviour program cannot elicit a skill that is not present; the skill has to be shaped up by a separate specific endeavour. There is no reason. of course. why this skills-training should not be undertaken within the spirit of reciprocal exchange or any other behavioural framework. If there is a criticism at all of this book. it is that sexual dysfunction has been given such short shrift. considering the very high frequency of sexual matters as a source of conflict. The two papers presented here. one by Laughren and Kass. the other by Lobitz and Lopiccolo. only start to scratch the surface of the problem. although both are good papers in themselves. Overall. the book is very good. Because of the excellent editorial selection from a range of possible papers characterised by a disproportionate degree of nonsense and waffle. the book maintains a high academic standard more-or-less throughout. I am sure that ‘Couples in Conflict’ will play a central role in teaching and therapy programs. GRAHAM E. POWELL
S. A. SZCK~K and 1. N. BE.HLIN(Eds). Clitllcul Studies iti Childhood Psvchosrs. 25 ymrs in colluhoruriw ,rsrarch: The Langley Porter Children’s Service. Brunner-Mazel. New York; Butterworth. xix f 780 pp. t9.95.
md
fruarrmwt
London.
The thirty-three papers by Szurek. Berlin and their associates provide a useful picture of the psychoanalytic approach to childhood psychosis followed at the Langley Porter over the last quarter of a century. There are long. thoughtful and often self-critical accounts of therapeutic issues which range from sexual countertransference problems to the use of physical restraint. An experimental approach to the investigation of negativism in autistic children is described and there are some half-dozen other reports of clinical research (concerned with follow-up. E.E.G. findings etc.). Behavioural techniques do not get much of a look-in and there is little questioning of the value of a psychoanalytic approach to child psychosis. although it might be implicit in the reprinting of Lightner-Witmer’s 1919 account of his systematic teaching of ‘Don’, which adumbrates many more recent developments. De Sanctis’ paper on dementia praecocissima is also reprinted. Problems in knowing what is meant by psychosis. as well as a relative neglect of empirical research, make for difficulties in assessing the contributions of the Langley Porter group. However, in spite of this, there are some items of interest in this rather bulky book. MICHAEL R~TT~K 389
Press.
BOOK
Printed
m Great
Brltam
REVIEWS
ALAN S. GERMAN and DAVID G. RICE (Eds). Couples
in Conflict.
Jason
Aronson.
New York,
1975. 439~~.
This collection of twenty-two papers constitutes the nearest approximation to a textbook of Marital Therapy that we have at the moment. In a single volume it covers the historical development of the field. empirical research findings. details of actual therapy practice, reviews of outcome studies, and sketches of possible future developments. The editors have not selected papers to represent any particular theoretical stance. of which there are many; but this is not to say that we have the usual anaemic eclectic approach. Rather. Gurman and Rice have chosen papers from several perspectives that are nearly all critical and incisive in nature. Indeed. several writers are perhaps over-rejecting of some of the earlier exploratory work. The final result of the book is neatly to present the reader with both positive and negative points relating to most of the important issues and methods. Couples in Conflict’ is obviously of great use to any newcomer to Marital Therapy and can wholeheartedly be recommended to students; but I am sure it will also appeal to many more experienced readers (and I am sure that it should be read by those experienced practitioners who badly need a dose of sound. empirically-based discussion). Admittedly more advanced readers will find many of the articles are already well-known. but five have been prepared especially for this edition and several others concern methodologies not yet seen frequently in the clinic. For example. I particularly liked the section on facilitating communication skill (one marital complaint probably heard in frequency second only to sexual problems), especially the paper by Robert Carter and Edwin Thomas who use corrective feedback and instruction as a modification technique. Unlike many behaviour modification programs (see in this collection the papers by Robert Liberman and Richard Stuart) the authors reject the assumption that couples do not communicate simply because their pattern of interaction is such that communication is seldom actually elicited. Behavioural programs too often assume that communication will be improved if. say. the wife’s cooking dinner is made contingent upon the husband’s making an effort to converse for ten minutes. Rather, Carter and Thomas implicitly argue that some people do not know how to communicate. A behaviour program cannot elicit a skill that is not present; the skill has to be shaped up by a separate specific endeavour. There is no reason. of course. why this skills-training should not be undertaken within the spirit of reciprocal exchange or any other behavioural framework. If there is a criticism at all of this book. it is that sexual dysfunction has been given such short shrift. considering the very high frequency of sexual matters as a source of conflict. The two papers presented here. one by Laughren and Kass. the other by Lobitz and Lopiccolo. only start to scratch the surface of the problem. although both are good papers in themselves. Overall. the book is very good. Because of the excellent editorial selection from a range of possible papers characterised by a disproportionate degree of nonsense and waffle. the book maintains a high academic standard more-or-less throughout. I am sure that ‘Couples in Conflict’ will play a central role in teaching and therapy programs. GRAHAM E. POWELL
S. A. SZCK~K and 1. N. BE.HLIN(Eds). Clitllcul Studies iti Childhood Psvchosrs. 25 ymrs in colluhoruriw ,rsrarch: The Langley Porter Children’s Service. Brunner-Mazel. New York; Butterworth. xix f 780 pp. t9.95.
md
fruarrmwt
London.
The thirty-three papers by Szurek. Berlin and their associates provide a useful picture of the psychoanalytic approach to childhood psychosis followed at the Langley Porter over the last quarter of a century. There are long. thoughtful and often self-critical accounts of therapeutic issues which range from sexual countertransference problems to the use of physical restraint. An experimental approach to the investigation of negativism in autistic children is described and there are some half-dozen other reports of clinical research (concerned with follow-up. E.E.G. findings etc.). Behavioural techniques do not get much of a look-in and there is little questioning of the value of a psychoanalytic approach to child psychosis. although it might be implicit in the reprinting of Lightner-Witmer’s 1919 account of his systematic teaching of ‘Don’, which adumbrates many more recent developments. De Sanctis’ paper on dementia praecocissima is also reprinted. Problems in knowing what is meant by psychosis. as well as a relative neglect of empirical research, make for difficulties in assessing the contributions of the Langley Porter group. However, in spite of this, there are some items of interest in this rather bulky book. MICHAEL R~TT~K 389