Nervous Disorders and Character by John G. McKenzie, Medicine For Moderns by F. G. Slaughter (review)

392 BOOK REVIEWS Nervous Disorders and Character. By JoHN G. McKENZIE. New York: Harpe~, 1947. Pp. Hl6, with index. $1.50. Medicine For Moderns. By F. G. SLAUGHTER. New York: Julian Messner, 1947. Pp. 254, with index. $3.50. These are lectures delivered at Manchester College, Oxford. The subtitle states them to be: "A Study in Pastoral Psychology and Psychotherapy." The author teaches Social Science and Psychology at Paton College, Nottingham . The four lectures are concerned with: Character Structure and Personality Disorders; Psychology, Psychotherapy and Pastoral Psychology; Mental Mechanics; The Nature, Origin, and Resolution of Conflicts. Books on pastoral psychology are not numerous and every new one arouses expectations. The present volume is written from the viewpoint of a Protestant minister who is well conversant with the problems of daily life and various mental disorders. There is, perhaps, as is the case with most works of this kind, too much emphasis on the abnormal aspects. What is really needed is a psychology of moral and religious life within the boundaries of normalcy. Again, the author's views are somewhat too much indebted to psychoanalysis, although he definitely prefers Jung to Freud. Dr. McKenzie's position, however, is in many respects perfectly sound. It is commendable that he does not side with those who believe that "frustration" explains all neurotic troubles. Rather, says the author, it is the incapacity to deal with erotic deprivation which causes the disturbance . He distinguishes the fields of pastoral and of medical psychology; they overlap, yet neither -comprises the whole of the other. The former, especially, has the prerogative to convey a definite philosophy of life, a problem the medical psychologist can approach, if at all, only with diffidence and caution. One will agree with the author that in many cases there is a greater need of such a philosophy than of a thorough sweeping of the unconscious. The digging out of so-called unconscious factors is not all that has to be done; the main thing is that a man assume a rational attitude in regard to himself and his world. There are many clever and even wise words in this little book. It deserves attention. It is objective and based on large experience and wide reading. The author has friendly words to say on the confessional and the Catholic notion of morality and religious life. He wonders, however, that contrary to the salutary effect Catholics experience through confession " many members of the Catholic persuasion of the Anglican Church go regularly tc confession ... but some of the worst sufferers from morbid guilt . . . were practicing .members of Anglo-Catholicism." Is this so amazing after all? Several reasons might be given as, the sacramental character of confession ; and, on the psychological level, the somewhat different attitude in BOOK REVIEWS 393 regard to the sinner. It was Kierkegaard, a Protestant, who said that it is part of the Church's wisdom that she never forgets one thing: that all men remain ever naughty boys playing in the streets. While one point and another will of necessity be envisaged differently by a Catholic, on the whole the treatment accorded the subject in this little work is well worth reading and study. The value of a book popularizing some science is always a matter of debate. Such books are needed, but they are also difficult to write; some of them, when written, prove to be dangerous or, at least, misleading. Not everything in science lends itself to a popular presentation. Not every topic can be discussed in total avoidance of technical language. It is particularly in the field of medicine that such books may become harmful. Yet, there is an interest in things medical; there is a need to inform the public and to make the average person realize what medicine may or may not do for him. In recent times there has been much talk concerning psychosomatic medicine. It is hailed as a new discovery which, in fact, it is not. It may be justifiable that the author of the present work refers almost exclusively to recent American studies; yet a good deal of what he presents as novelties has been known for more than a quarter century. The...