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Psychopathology: An interactional perspective
Jnurnal of P.yychosomoric Resmrch, Vol. 33. No. 4. pp 523-525, Pnnted in Great Btitam
BOOK
1989
0022-3999/89 $3 00 + .I0
Pergamon Press plc
REVIEWS
Psychopathology: An Interactional Perspective. Edited York: Academic Press, 1987. $49.50. pp. 394.
by DAVID MAGNUSS~N and AKNE OHMAN. New
THIS is an unusual book. It consists of a large number of admirably brief and concise chapters on a wide range of topics currently being researched. Following an introduction, the chapters are grouped under six headings concerned with Schizophrenia, Depression. Anxiety, Childhood Disturbances and Delin(quency, Stress and Health, and finally Methodological Issues. Much of the material is familiar but some css so. There are, for example, chapters by Leff on the Influence of Life Events and Relatives’ Expressed Emotion on the course of Schizophrenia and by Rutter and Quinton on Parental Mental Illness as a Risk Factor for Psychiatric Disorders in Childhood, each of which provides helpful summaries of well known !indings. Less familiar to many readers, for example, will be the interesting findings summarized by .;isberg, Martensson and Wagner in their chapter on Psychological Aspects of Suicidal Behaviour and the artention they draw to the possible relevance of low CSFS-HIAA to the appearance of suicidal behaviour. Of equal interest are the chapters in the section on Anxiety by Ohman and Lang who grapple with the bcological significance of phobias and the problems of conceptualizing the different components of the phobic experience. Interesting and stimulating as much of the material is, it is difficult to appreciate the editors’ rationale Vor having it all in one volume. The contents are not comprehensive in the sense of an up-to-date post-graduate text book, nor do they cover in a comprehensive way recent developments in any particular area or areas. The claim of the editors is that the material is unified by ‘An Interactional Perspective’. Such an approach is held to rest on two main propositions: ‘(1) that an individual develops and functions m a dynamic, continuously ongoing, and bidirectional interaction with the environment at various levels 01‘ generality and (2) that in this process of interaction, the way an individual functions is determined by a continuously ongoing, reciprocal interaction among internal subsystems of psychological and biological fictors’. In fairness it is acknowledged that the first of these two propositions is not a new one. The second is held to be of increasing relevance as more becomes known about what happens within organisms as well as what happens in terms of interaction between organisms and environment. However, even if it is accepted that these two propositions constitute an appropriate starting point for thinking about matters psychiatric their universal and all-embracing nature scarcely provide justification for the concatenation of the contents of this particular book. That the contents do conform to the principles of selection cannot be denied. Leffs chapter clearly exemplifies the first of the editors’ propositions and the chapter by Asberg rt al. exemplifies the second. However, it is hard to think of any subject which might not be included on such a basis of selection and indeed this observation is confirmed by the disparate nature of the contents. Furthermore, given the all-inclusive nature of the theoretical starting point one wonders why the book is entitled ‘Psychopathology’ rather than simply ‘Psychiatry’. Essentially what has been produced is the psychiatric equivalent of an anthology. Readers in search elf good summaries of particular topics of interest to them may find them here. But like most anthologies the selection is arbitrary, subjective and not in this reviewer’s opinion unified by the claimed theme. Indeed il is perhaps in the expression of that theme that the book is at its least appealing. For it is in the explanatory and connecting passages that the worst jargon and the emptiest use of words is to be found. For its contents rather than its claim this book can be recommended, but to whom and for what is less clear. The printing, design, and layout are admirable and, unusually for a medical book, it is pleasant and easy to read. CHRISTOPHER HOWARD Royal Free Hospital London
The Treatment of Alcoholism. EDGAR P. NACE. New York:
Brunner
Mazel,
1987. $30. pp. 304.
THIS textbook, written by an American psychiatrist with many years of clinical experience, is directed at psychiatrists and other health care workers interested in learning more about the treatment of alcoholism. 523
BOOK
1989
0022-3999/89 $3 00 + .I0
Pergamon Press plc
REVIEWS
Psychopathology: An Interactional Perspective. Edited York: Academic Press, 1987. $49.50. pp. 394.
by DAVID MAGNUSS~N and AKNE OHMAN. New
THIS is an unusual book. It consists of a large number of admirably brief and concise chapters on a wide range of topics currently being researched. Following an introduction, the chapters are grouped under six headings concerned with Schizophrenia, Depression. Anxiety, Childhood Disturbances and Delin(quency, Stress and Health, and finally Methodological Issues. Much of the material is familiar but some css so. There are, for example, chapters by Leff on the Influence of Life Events and Relatives’ Expressed Emotion on the course of Schizophrenia and by Rutter and Quinton on Parental Mental Illness as a Risk Factor for Psychiatric Disorders in Childhood, each of which provides helpful summaries of well known !indings. Less familiar to many readers, for example, will be the interesting findings summarized by .;isberg, Martensson and Wagner in their chapter on Psychological Aspects of Suicidal Behaviour and the artention they draw to the possible relevance of low CSFS-HIAA to the appearance of suicidal behaviour. Of equal interest are the chapters in the section on Anxiety by Ohman and Lang who grapple with the bcological significance of phobias and the problems of conceptualizing the different components of the phobic experience. Interesting and stimulating as much of the material is, it is difficult to appreciate the editors’ rationale Vor having it all in one volume. The contents are not comprehensive in the sense of an up-to-date post-graduate text book, nor do they cover in a comprehensive way recent developments in any particular area or areas. The claim of the editors is that the material is unified by ‘An Interactional Perspective’. Such an approach is held to rest on two main propositions: ‘(1) that an individual develops and functions m a dynamic, continuously ongoing, and bidirectional interaction with the environment at various levels 01‘ generality and (2) that in this process of interaction, the way an individual functions is determined by a continuously ongoing, reciprocal interaction among internal subsystems of psychological and biological fictors’. In fairness it is acknowledged that the first of these two propositions is not a new one. The second is held to be of increasing relevance as more becomes known about what happens within organisms as well as what happens in terms of interaction between organisms and environment. However, even if it is accepted that these two propositions constitute an appropriate starting point for thinking about matters psychiatric their universal and all-embracing nature scarcely provide justification for the concatenation of the contents of this particular book. That the contents do conform to the principles of selection cannot be denied. Leffs chapter clearly exemplifies the first of the editors’ propositions and the chapter by Asberg rt al. exemplifies the second. However, it is hard to think of any subject which might not be included on such a basis of selection and indeed this observation is confirmed by the disparate nature of the contents. Furthermore, given the all-inclusive nature of the theoretical starting point one wonders why the book is entitled ‘Psychopathology’ rather than simply ‘Psychiatry’. Essentially what has been produced is the psychiatric equivalent of an anthology. Readers in search elf good summaries of particular topics of interest to them may find them here. But like most anthologies the selection is arbitrary, subjective and not in this reviewer’s opinion unified by the claimed theme. Indeed il is perhaps in the expression of that theme that the book is at its least appealing. For it is in the explanatory and connecting passages that the worst jargon and the emptiest use of words is to be found. For its contents rather than its claim this book can be recommended, but to whom and for what is less clear. The printing, design, and layout are admirable and, unusually for a medical book, it is pleasant and easy to read. CHRISTOPHER HOWARD Royal Free Hospital London
The Treatment of Alcoholism. EDGAR P. NACE. New York:
Brunner
Mazel,
1987. $30. pp. 304.
THIS textbook, written by an American psychiatrist with many years of clinical experience, is directed at psychiatrists and other health care workers interested in learning more about the treatment of alcoholism. 523