When Reason Fails: Psychotherapy in America by Robert A. Liston (review)

Books 71 significanceof play, she offers a number of biologically useful ends that play does and could serve, yet she remains clearly aware of its complex, circumstantial and varied nature. She points out that the different kinds of play arise mainly in conditions where behaviour is relativelyunorganized , a state characteristic of immaturity. Although a few similaritiesbetween art and play are mentioned, the fascinating and suggestive relationship between the two activities is not pursued. I find that her study is solidly grounded, admirably broad in scope, deep in treatment and clearly and interestingly written, for layman as well as professional. When Reason Fails: Psychotherapy in America. Robert A. Liston. Wildwood House, London, 1974, 174 pp. f2.50. Reviewed by PatriciaMusick* Liston’s book provides the lay reader with a concise survey of the major fieldsof psychotherapy currently being practiced in the U S A . It opens with a general overview and then the reader is introduced to the principal figures in the fields of (1) psychoanalytic therapy (Freud, Adler, Jung, Stekel and Rank), (2) insight therapy (the neo-Freudians, Horney, Fromm and Sullivan) and (3) behavioral or learning therapy (Rogers, Ellis, Thorndike, Skinner, Wolpe, Lovaas and others). The historical development of these approaches is presented and the threads of interrelationship are well described. Sections devoted to each approach provide a descriptive treatment followed by critiques that portray the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. The book, designed to reach young people primarily, is written in a clear and lively style. In a relatively few pages Freud’s complex ideas are described in a format of succinct simplicity. It is the author’s ability to condense and clarify that is the strength of the book. For this reason it should have value not only to lay readers but also to students as an adjunct to basic introductory psychology and educational psychology textbooks. The value of the book for artists and art teachers is, I believe, debatable, because it does not treat ties between psychotherapy and art. Freud’s rendering of his id, ego, superego model into artistic interpretation is not dealt with, nor is his controversial insistence on the quality of the art product. Although the author acknowledges the importance of Jung’s hypotheses to theologians and clergymen, he regrettably neglects Jung’s application of them to art. The artistic and educational implications of Jung’s claims that conscious artistic forms may be generated from innate perceptual structures (the collective unconscious) and that there is a possibility of unversal communication through commonalities in artistic symbolism are not discussed. The relatively nascent field of art psychotherapy is not reported and descriptions of any relationship between art and research on learning are left undiscussed. In summary, the book achieves the author’s stated intent to ‘serve as a bridge between specialists and the lay public’, if the two sides of the gulf are seen as psychotherapist and student, but between psychotherapist and artist/educator the bridge lacks some necessary structure. What is Linguistics? 3rd ed. David Crystal. Edward Arnold, London, 1974. 88 pp. Paper, f0.70. Reviewed by Martin Steinmann,Jr.** The aim of this book is to provide a thumbnail sketch of linguistics for those who have heard the word but know nothing at all about the discipline,and up to a certain point it does this very well. Linguistics is not, it shows; to be identified with polyglottism , for instance, or with literary criticism. It is, rather, *Psychology Dept., College of Art and Science, State Universitvof New York. Oswepo. NY 13126. USA. **Ce;ter for Advanced Studies in Language, Style and Literary Theory, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. the empirical study of both language in general and, in the light of that study, particular languages-English, French, Urdu, Navajo and so on. Speaking(or writing or understanding ) a language is governed by phonological, grammatical, lexical and semantic rules. But the task of the linguist is not to prescribe these rules-not to invent or legislate rules that speakers ought to follow-but to discover the rules that they do follow and to formulate them. The speakers of a language already know its rules; to know a language is to know...