- Email: [email protected]
Dimensions of reading difficulties
502
BOOK REVLEWS
seriously. Whether the result be homicide or suicide, the 3 per cent incidence of homicide in his five-year follow-up may be contrasted with the .5 per cent homicide rate of criminal homicide parolees from a penitentiary study. What we would have liked to have seen emerge from this monograph unfortunately becomes obscure. When must the psychiatrist take the homicide threat seriously and hospitalize the patient? Dr. Macdonald concludes with an overall clinical statement probably close to what every experienced clinician would have thought anyway. Poor object relationships, latent homosexuality, abnormal EEG’s, paranoid delusions, and membership in a subculture of violence are all dangerous signs. Dr. Macdonald closes by recommending homicide prevention centers parallel to the now popular but questionable suicide prevention centers. This is based on the finding that homicidal behavior resembles suicidal behavior in several crucial aspects: it occurs in crisis situations, it is characterized by high ambivalence, and there is still a continued need to relate to others. This book contains much useful information and serves as a warning. Despite a certain lack of clarity, it repays reading by both the psychiatrist and layman who are concerned with the resort to violence being labelled by many, sadly or accusingly, as part of the American way of life.-Roy M. Whitman, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio MODERN PROBLEMS OF PHARMACOPSYCHIATRY.Edited New York, Karger, 1969, 116 pages, $5.00.
by H. E. Lehmann
and T. A. Ban.
The proceedings of the Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association Symposium on the Thioxanthenes have been published as the second volume in the series Modem Pro&m.s of Pharmacopsychiatry. The symposium held in June 1967 provided an opportunity for a gathering of researchers interested in the basic pharmacology and preliminary clinical evaluation of these drugs. About one third of the papers are related exclusively to preclinical pharmacological testing and the remainder to early pilot studies. Grouped together, these papers demonstrate that, as a class, the thioxanthenes are clinically effective in treatment of schizophrenic psychoses, and possible control of manic excitement, These drugs include thiothixene (Navane), chlorprothixene (Taractan), and clopenthixol (Sordinol). In 1962, the results of the VA collaborative study demonstrated that chlorprothixene when compared with several of the phenothiazines in a large series of acute schizophrenic patients was not significantly different from the phenothiazines. Since most of the present studies were designed only for preliminary evaluation, this reviewer has to agree with M. S. Merlis’ summary of the conference in concluding that from the report there is no evidence to specifically indicate clinically prescribing these drugs, although they provide a different chemical compound from the phenothiazines. It is this alteration in chemical structure which may provide a rationale for prescribing these drugs for otherwise resistant patients. Because of the brevity of the reports, and the preliminary nature of these studies, the book is primarily useful to workers active in psychopharmacology research as a resource for some of the initial work on these compounds.-Walter N. Stone, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio DIMENSIONS OF READING DIFFICULTIES. By A. T. Rauenette, Press, 1968, 102 pages, $7.00.
Ph.D.
London,
Pergamon
A critical review of this book has given the reader pleasure and helped him combine and integrate his thoughts relating to reading and reading performance. It continues to confirm his admitted stereotypes regarding British literacy which seems almost invariably capable of brief, incisive, cogent exposition. Dr. Ravenette presents an overview of reading function and purpose. He is quite aware that the lay public and various professional workers are concerned with problems which can be defined in relation to certain dimensions. These dimensions are examined in orderly fashion and are best illustrated by the book chapter titles: “The Function and Nature of by Head Teachers,” the Printed Word,” “ The Causes of Reading Failure as Described “Dimensions Within the Child-Cognitive Factors; Sociological and Family Dimensions,”
503
BOOK REVIEWS
“Dimensions Within the School Setting; Staffing, Materials and Methods.” “Dyslexia-The Neurological Dimension,” and “Find Out if the Child Likes the Teacher: Personal Dimensions.” The last two chapters conclude with an integration and interweaving of various findings and an attempt to indicate necessary courses of action which have been clearly presented and discussed in the previous chapters. The author admits to exercising his personal predilections in presenting his broad approach, which he says owes much to the writing of Piaget and George Kelly. He is obviously conversant with dynamic psychology and social learning theory, placing the child in the task of reading at the intersection of the child and the family; the family and culture pattern; the child and the school; the school and the family; the child and the teacher; the child and his peers; and that which the child has to learn and the resources which he has for learning. Reading then is also the “final common pathway” of a number of evolving parallel but interacting dimensions which will exercise the descriptive and diagnostic skills of concerned professionals and define certain possibilities which will be open to the child in later life. These dimensions are cruciahy involved with the definition of self. Extra resources will undoubtedly be called for in order to refine and change our general educational practices. This book manages to describe the reading process and trace the educational taproots in the study of reading disabilities. Familiar controversy between visual and phonic methods of teaching reading is explored in detail. The specific advantages and disadvantages are specifically noted. Certain underlying points of similarity are noted between the two approaches, however, and it is pointed out that certain elements of teaching which are emphasized in one of these methods may “come in the back door,” as it were, in the other method. The use of the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.) should not be viewed as a teaching method and will not obviate the need for current visual, phonic, and multisensory teaching methods. The American reader might be interested by the author’s description of the polarization of attitudes between British neurologists and psychologists concerning the label “dyslexia” and the importance of hereditary factors. The author, an educational psychologist, takes issue with and asks questions of the methodology, findings, and samplings advanced by the exponents of “dyslexia” and wonders whether the sample of children seen by neurologists is not very different from that seen by psychologists within the school system; however, he does credit T. T. S. Ingram with offering a workable frame of reference valuable to both neurologists and psychologists. This reviewer is not convinced that United States and Canadian neurologists and psychologists can be divided by discipline in regard to their view of the nature and remediation of reading disabilities. Rather the future cooperation and vision by Dr. Ravenette seems further along here. Differences of opinion seem to be increasingly explained as really only differences of emphases among various investigators. The book’s formulations are of great value to psychiatrists, clinical and educational psychologists, teachers, pediatricians, social workers, and even the well-informed parent. It should be required supplementary reading for any serious student of child learning problems.-Theodore H. Wohl, Ph.D., Cincinnati, Ohio HOPE
1969,
AND
HELP
183 pages,
FOR YOUR NERVES.
By
Claire
Weekes,
M.D.
New
York,
Hawthorne,
$5.95.
Dr. Weekes has attempted in 177 pages to provide mankind with a do-it-yourself technique for curing all forms of mental illness. While her intent is indeed noble, the product is a superficial admonition that anyone can be cured of mental illness if they will only stop thinking their sick thoughts and begin thinking only good thoughts. Her infallible formula for achieving this goal is summarized by her as consisting of the following four principles: ( 1) facing the symptoms; (2) accepting the symptoms and not fighting them; (3) floating along through life; and (4) letting time pass until the three preceding principles have had an opportunity to effect a complete cure. A great deal of time and effort is spent by Dr. Weekes in educating her patients toward an understanding of these four important principles. She goes into much detail with her patients in examining the physiologic manifestations of anxiety, explaining to
BOOK REVLEWS
seriously. Whether the result be homicide or suicide, the 3 per cent incidence of homicide in his five-year follow-up may be contrasted with the .5 per cent homicide rate of criminal homicide parolees from a penitentiary study. What we would have liked to have seen emerge from this monograph unfortunately becomes obscure. When must the psychiatrist take the homicide threat seriously and hospitalize the patient? Dr. Macdonald concludes with an overall clinical statement probably close to what every experienced clinician would have thought anyway. Poor object relationships, latent homosexuality, abnormal EEG’s, paranoid delusions, and membership in a subculture of violence are all dangerous signs. Dr. Macdonald closes by recommending homicide prevention centers parallel to the now popular but questionable suicide prevention centers. This is based on the finding that homicidal behavior resembles suicidal behavior in several crucial aspects: it occurs in crisis situations, it is characterized by high ambivalence, and there is still a continued need to relate to others. This book contains much useful information and serves as a warning. Despite a certain lack of clarity, it repays reading by both the psychiatrist and layman who are concerned with the resort to violence being labelled by many, sadly or accusingly, as part of the American way of life.-Roy M. Whitman, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio MODERN PROBLEMS OF PHARMACOPSYCHIATRY.Edited New York, Karger, 1969, 116 pages, $5.00.
by H. E. Lehmann
and T. A. Ban.
The proceedings of the Quebec Psychopharmacological Research Association Symposium on the Thioxanthenes have been published as the second volume in the series Modem Pro&m.s of Pharmacopsychiatry. The symposium held in June 1967 provided an opportunity for a gathering of researchers interested in the basic pharmacology and preliminary clinical evaluation of these drugs. About one third of the papers are related exclusively to preclinical pharmacological testing and the remainder to early pilot studies. Grouped together, these papers demonstrate that, as a class, the thioxanthenes are clinically effective in treatment of schizophrenic psychoses, and possible control of manic excitement, These drugs include thiothixene (Navane), chlorprothixene (Taractan), and clopenthixol (Sordinol). In 1962, the results of the VA collaborative study demonstrated that chlorprothixene when compared with several of the phenothiazines in a large series of acute schizophrenic patients was not significantly different from the phenothiazines. Since most of the present studies were designed only for preliminary evaluation, this reviewer has to agree with M. S. Merlis’ summary of the conference in concluding that from the report there is no evidence to specifically indicate clinically prescribing these drugs, although they provide a different chemical compound from the phenothiazines. It is this alteration in chemical structure which may provide a rationale for prescribing these drugs for otherwise resistant patients. Because of the brevity of the reports, and the preliminary nature of these studies, the book is primarily useful to workers active in psychopharmacology research as a resource for some of the initial work on these compounds.-Walter N. Stone, M.D., Cincinnati, Ohio DIMENSIONS OF READING DIFFICULTIES. By A. T. Rauenette, Press, 1968, 102 pages, $7.00.
Ph.D.
London,
Pergamon
A critical review of this book has given the reader pleasure and helped him combine and integrate his thoughts relating to reading and reading performance. It continues to confirm his admitted stereotypes regarding British literacy which seems almost invariably capable of brief, incisive, cogent exposition. Dr. Ravenette presents an overview of reading function and purpose. He is quite aware that the lay public and various professional workers are concerned with problems which can be defined in relation to certain dimensions. These dimensions are examined in orderly fashion and are best illustrated by the book chapter titles: “The Function and Nature of by Head Teachers,” the Printed Word,” “ The Causes of Reading Failure as Described “Dimensions Within the Child-Cognitive Factors; Sociological and Family Dimensions,”
503
BOOK REVIEWS
“Dimensions Within the School Setting; Staffing, Materials and Methods.” “Dyslexia-The Neurological Dimension,” and “Find Out if the Child Likes the Teacher: Personal Dimensions.” The last two chapters conclude with an integration and interweaving of various findings and an attempt to indicate necessary courses of action which have been clearly presented and discussed in the previous chapters. The author admits to exercising his personal predilections in presenting his broad approach, which he says owes much to the writing of Piaget and George Kelly. He is obviously conversant with dynamic psychology and social learning theory, placing the child in the task of reading at the intersection of the child and the family; the family and culture pattern; the child and the school; the school and the family; the child and the teacher; the child and his peers; and that which the child has to learn and the resources which he has for learning. Reading then is also the “final common pathway” of a number of evolving parallel but interacting dimensions which will exercise the descriptive and diagnostic skills of concerned professionals and define certain possibilities which will be open to the child in later life. These dimensions are cruciahy involved with the definition of self. Extra resources will undoubtedly be called for in order to refine and change our general educational practices. This book manages to describe the reading process and trace the educational taproots in the study of reading disabilities. Familiar controversy between visual and phonic methods of teaching reading is explored in detail. The specific advantages and disadvantages are specifically noted. Certain underlying points of similarity are noted between the two approaches, however, and it is pointed out that certain elements of teaching which are emphasized in one of these methods may “come in the back door,” as it were, in the other method. The use of the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.) should not be viewed as a teaching method and will not obviate the need for current visual, phonic, and multisensory teaching methods. The American reader might be interested by the author’s description of the polarization of attitudes between British neurologists and psychologists concerning the label “dyslexia” and the importance of hereditary factors. The author, an educational psychologist, takes issue with and asks questions of the methodology, findings, and samplings advanced by the exponents of “dyslexia” and wonders whether the sample of children seen by neurologists is not very different from that seen by psychologists within the school system; however, he does credit T. T. S. Ingram with offering a workable frame of reference valuable to both neurologists and psychologists. This reviewer is not convinced that United States and Canadian neurologists and psychologists can be divided by discipline in regard to their view of the nature and remediation of reading disabilities. Rather the future cooperation and vision by Dr. Ravenette seems further along here. Differences of opinion seem to be increasingly explained as really only differences of emphases among various investigators. The book’s formulations are of great value to psychiatrists, clinical and educational psychologists, teachers, pediatricians, social workers, and even the well-informed parent. It should be required supplementary reading for any serious student of child learning problems.-Theodore H. Wohl, Ph.D., Cincinnati, Ohio HOPE
1969,
AND
HELP
183 pages,
FOR YOUR NERVES.
By
Claire
Weekes,
M.D.
New
York,
Hawthorne,
$5.95.
Dr. Weekes has attempted in 177 pages to provide mankind with a do-it-yourself technique for curing all forms of mental illness. While her intent is indeed noble, the product is a superficial admonition that anyone can be cured of mental illness if they will only stop thinking their sick thoughts and begin thinking only good thoughts. Her infallible formula for achieving this goal is summarized by her as consisting of the following four principles: ( 1) facing the symptoms; (2) accepting the symptoms and not fighting them; (3) floating along through life; and (4) letting time pass until the three preceding principles have had an opportunity to effect a complete cure. A great deal of time and effort is spent by Dr. Weekes in educating her patients toward an understanding of these four important principles. She goes into much detail with her patients in examining the physiologic manifestations of anxiety, explaining to