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Psychosomatic obstetrics gynaecology and endocrinology
168
Book reviews
Written with great lucidity, parts of this book have the compelling fascination of the best detective fiction. The least satisfactory chapter is probably the conclusion, where Wertheimer tries to draw together the arguments in terms of which he claims to have shown that "in comparatively elementary cases, exact decisions about the appropriate, the true structure, can be made". It is doubtful if this claim is valid. What he does provide is a brilliant justification of his main contention--that the characteristics of thought cannot be understood wholly in terms of past experience, logic, or trial and error behaviour. When, in attempting to make a more positive contribution, he talks about "gaps, trouble regions, structural hierarchy" and so on, one feels that he has caught the ftavour of the thing, but that all he is really doing is to substitute one unsatisfactory vocabulary for another. However, in the twenty years since his death, no one can really be said to have done very much better, and the book remains one of the few really important works in its field. W. D. FURNEAUX
N. O'CONNOR and B. HERMELIN: Speech and Thought in Severe Subnormality. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1963, pp. 122, 25s. IMBECILES are excluded from school in England and Wales but it is becoming more generally recognized that they have considerable learning capacity. The recent Scott Report makes recommendations for the training of their teachers. The British Medical Association in its evidence to the Royal Commission on the Law recommended that they be included within the educational system. O'Connor and Hermelin have now provided a scientific basis on which suitable curricula for the severely subnormal can be devised. They compress into this little volume the fruits of many ingenious experiments and of years of careful and painstaking work. They jump to no hasty conclusions and the design of their projects is such as to exclude all predictable sources of error. The work is partially inspired by Luria and Piaget, both of whom have a dynamic approach to child development and have reacted against the role assigned to the psychologist of a mere measurer of a supposedly static intellectual potential. The authors show that in line with Piaget's findings in normals, imbeciles evolve through definite, well recognized styles in learning and thinking. They also confirm Luria's view on the importance of verbal regulation in relation to learning in this group. One of the most significant findings for education and for neurology is that visual perception and recall are more impaired in imbeciles than stereognosis in which the subjects did better than normal children of the same mental age. O'Connor and Hermelin also demonstrate for the first time qualitative differences in performance between "mongols" and non-mongols. The mongols are poor at stereognosis and motor tests, have more eye movements in test conditions and have a lower skin conductance than other imbeciles. B. H. K1RMAN
Psychosomatic Obstetrics Gynaecology and Endocrinology. Thomas, Illinois. pp. 820, Sl9.50.
Edited by W. S. KROGER. Charles C.
Tins is a remarkable book by virtue of the very wide field covered dealing with most psychosomatic aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology. The volume reports the proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine to discuss recent advances in psychosomatic research in obstetrics, gynaecology and metabolic disorders. In all there are 75 contributors. The contribution by Sontag on the effect of maternal emotions is noteworthy. Some aspects are rather inadequately dealt with as for example the major post partum psychiatric disorders. The section dealing with education for marriage and parenthood will be found useful and also the practical and useful account presented of hypnosis and anesthetic procedures in childbirth. Menstrual disorders and premenstrual tension are rather briefly surveyed in contrast to the menopausal flush syndrome which is admirably described by Reynolds. Others deal with psychotherapy, individual and group. The wideness of range of topic will be further illustrated by mentioning that diabetes, obesity, neoplastic disease, infertility and frigidity are also discussed. The wide coverage of topics has obvious advantages but has the inevitable disadvantage that critical discussion and evaluation of results of investigations reported cannot be fully dealt with. This book will be of interest to psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynaecologists and anyone interested in psychosomatic problems. LINFORD REES
Book reviews
Written with great lucidity, parts of this book have the compelling fascination of the best detective fiction. The least satisfactory chapter is probably the conclusion, where Wertheimer tries to draw together the arguments in terms of which he claims to have shown that "in comparatively elementary cases, exact decisions about the appropriate, the true structure, can be made". It is doubtful if this claim is valid. What he does provide is a brilliant justification of his main contention--that the characteristics of thought cannot be understood wholly in terms of past experience, logic, or trial and error behaviour. When, in attempting to make a more positive contribution, he talks about "gaps, trouble regions, structural hierarchy" and so on, one feels that he has caught the ftavour of the thing, but that all he is really doing is to substitute one unsatisfactory vocabulary for another. However, in the twenty years since his death, no one can really be said to have done very much better, and the book remains one of the few really important works in its field. W. D. FURNEAUX
N. O'CONNOR and B. HERMELIN: Speech and Thought in Severe Subnormality. Pergamon Press, Oxford 1963, pp. 122, 25s. IMBECILES are excluded from school in England and Wales but it is becoming more generally recognized that they have considerable learning capacity. The recent Scott Report makes recommendations for the training of their teachers. The British Medical Association in its evidence to the Royal Commission on the Law recommended that they be included within the educational system. O'Connor and Hermelin have now provided a scientific basis on which suitable curricula for the severely subnormal can be devised. They compress into this little volume the fruits of many ingenious experiments and of years of careful and painstaking work. They jump to no hasty conclusions and the design of their projects is such as to exclude all predictable sources of error. The work is partially inspired by Luria and Piaget, both of whom have a dynamic approach to child development and have reacted against the role assigned to the psychologist of a mere measurer of a supposedly static intellectual potential. The authors show that in line with Piaget's findings in normals, imbeciles evolve through definite, well recognized styles in learning and thinking. They also confirm Luria's view on the importance of verbal regulation in relation to learning in this group. One of the most significant findings for education and for neurology is that visual perception and recall are more impaired in imbeciles than stereognosis in which the subjects did better than normal children of the same mental age. O'Connor and Hermelin also demonstrate for the first time qualitative differences in performance between "mongols" and non-mongols. The mongols are poor at stereognosis and motor tests, have more eye movements in test conditions and have a lower skin conductance than other imbeciles. B. H. K1RMAN
Psychosomatic Obstetrics Gynaecology and Endocrinology. Thomas, Illinois. pp. 820, Sl9.50.
Edited by W. S. KROGER. Charles C.
Tins is a remarkable book by virtue of the very wide field covered dealing with most psychosomatic aspects of obstetrics and gynaecology. The volume reports the proceedings of a symposium sponsored by the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine to discuss recent advances in psychosomatic research in obstetrics, gynaecology and metabolic disorders. In all there are 75 contributors. The contribution by Sontag on the effect of maternal emotions is noteworthy. Some aspects are rather inadequately dealt with as for example the major post partum psychiatric disorders. The section dealing with education for marriage and parenthood will be found useful and also the practical and useful account presented of hypnosis and anesthetic procedures in childbirth. Menstrual disorders and premenstrual tension are rather briefly surveyed in contrast to the menopausal flush syndrome which is admirably described by Reynolds. Others deal with psychotherapy, individual and group. The wideness of range of topic will be further illustrated by mentioning that diabetes, obesity, neoplastic disease, infertility and frigidity are also discussed. The wide coverage of topics has obvious advantages but has the inevitable disadvantage that critical discussion and evaluation of results of investigations reported cannot be fully dealt with. This book will be of interest to psychiatrists, obstetricians and gynaecologists and anyone interested in psychosomatic problems. LINFORD REES