La relaxation (rééducation psychotonique) aspects théoriques et pratiques

La relaxation (rééducation psychotonique) aspects théoriques et pratiques

Book reviews 235 factors are perhaps not sufficiently emphasized and there IS less emphasis on social factors than we m England would expect There a...

112KB Sizes 4 Downloads 133 Views

Book reviews

235

factors are perhaps not sufficiently emphasized and there IS less emphasis on social factors than we m England would expect There are some mterestmg observations on “glue” smfling, and on the use of manhuana, but the book only serves to stress our ignorance of what really makes a drug addict The lack of an mdex IS a disadvantage, and this defect must be remedied m future volumes of this series DENIS LEIGH

La Relaxation (Ri%ducatlon Psychotomque) Aspects Theorlques et Pratlques.

Medicme Psychomatrque

3me EditIon

Soclete FranGaw de Expansion Scientlfique FranGaise, Paris pp viu + 320

WHETHERrelaxation 1s a physlologlcal process mamly concerned with the muscular system, or a psychic state related to hypnosis, it 1s of interest m psychosomatlcs both because it hlghhghts the relation between mmd and body, and also because relaxation techniques have been used to treat Moreover, interest m symptomatic treatment has revived recently many psychosomatlc disorders with the vogue of behavlour therapy which uses techmques of relaxation as an aid to decondltlomng The third edltlon of this collection of essays on relaxation contams twenty short articles by different authors mainly fron France and Germany There are five sections The first, longest and most useful contains descrlptlons of Schultz’ autogemc training, Jacobson’s progressive relaxation and Kretschmer’s fractionated active hypnosis, and others less well known m this country, mcludmg relaxation therapy for chddren It 1s valuable to see the methods described side by side and to be able to compare them The nest short section on physIologIca mvestlgatlon of relaxed subjects reflects our ignorance about the objective changes which occur It IS followed by a section on psychologlcal aspects m which Held discusses Schultz’ technique from the dynamic point of view, emphaslsmg the role of transference and regresslon The group of essays on clmlcal apphcatlons wdl not be wholly satisfactory to anyone looking for clear guide lines to the mdlcatlons for each techmque Although there 1s a detaded discussion of the resistances which may Interfere with the induction of relaxation, there IS little mformatlon about the immediate or late results of treatment With so many methods to choose from, it would be useful to know more about the results obtained with each The final sectlon on theoretIca conslderatlons contams a particularly mterestmg essay by Kretschmer on fractionated active hypnosis The book serves a useful purpose m brmgmg together different views on the nature of relaxation and can be recommended as a convenient guide to the different techmques M G GELDER Problems of Psychiatry and Neurology TransactIons of the Leningrad Sclentlfic Socrety of NeurologAs and Psycluatnsts (Vol III). Edlted by I F SLUCHEVSKIIPergamon Press, Oxford (1962) pp VIII + 376 Price f5 THE actlvltles of Soviet sclentlsts are mtrlgumg and at the same time somewhat bamng, particularly m the sphere of psychiatry It IS good to be able to read some of their contrlbutlons, albeit m a poor translation The neurological work IS of a high standard even if the therapy of neurological disorders 1s somewhat remmlscent of the 19th century The psychtatrlc papers on the other hand are of varying standards For instance, who m the West would agree that blood coagulabdlty IS raised m psychopathy, or thmk m terms of a pathological “dommant” m cases of bronchral asthma The exclusively Pavlovian and physIologIcal-biological approach becomes somewhat tedious, and it 1s high time some fresh air was introduced mto Russian psychiatry, and that the Anglo-American approach was made more famlhar to Russian psychlatrlsts DENIS LEIGH

Expenments

IIIMotwation.

Edlted by H J

EYSENCK

Pergamon Press, Oxford

pp VIII + 425 fS

THIS 1s yet another important book edited by the mdefatlgable Professor Eysenck conslstmg of work carried out under his dIrectIon on both man and ammals One contmues to be amazed at the vast amount of work carried out m Professor Eysenck’s department, and at the virtuosity of the able psychologists he has gathered around him Motivation and Its study lies at the heart of psychiatry and of human behavlour, so that the psychiatrist must be acquamted with the subject What he ~111 miss here 1s the lack of any real relevance to his patients--to their personal problems m relation to motlvatlon Only the broadest categories of disturbance can be dealt with by the methods used, which make of human motlvatlon and behavlour a dry-as-dust affair of anxiety, reward and pumshment Some of the ammal experiments are distasteful to those of us who practice medlcme, such as the forced underwater swunmmg of rats, m this paper the euphemism “an depnvatlon” simply The time 1s fast means that the ammal 1s strugglm, 0 to breathe m a horribly frlghtenmg sltuatlon