BRUNO BETTELHEIM. Truants from Life. Pp. xvi, 511. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1955. $6.00

• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625630400143
• Subject Matter: Articles

165

clergymen,

and

just

plain

people.

A

book

which

helps

the

inquirer

to

find

his

way

about

in

this

maze

of

schools

and

thera-

pists

is

very

welcome

indeed.

This

is

exactly

what

this

book

does.

Its

author,

a

clinical

psychologist,

tells

us

that

both

her

own

and

her husband’s

training

are

Freudian,

yet

assures

us

that

she

en-

deavors

to

be

unbiased.

She

then

pro-

ceeds

to

demonstrate

her

impartiality.

She

shows

a

remarkably

full

knowledge

of

the

writings

of

the

leaders

in

the

more

promi-

nent

schools:

Sigmund

Freud,

Alfred

Adler,

Karen

Horney,

Erich

Fromm,

H.

S.

Sulli-

van,

C.

G.

Jung,

and

Otto

Rank.

Wilhelm

Reich

she

dismisses

in

a

footnote.

The

exposition

of

theory

and

technique

is

clear

and,

considering

the

unavoidable

condensa-

tion,

very

complete.

In

addition

she

gives

a

critique

of

each

school,

exposing

both

their

excesses

and

their

deficiencies.

In

the

final

chapter

she

attempts

a

theoretical

integration.

It

is,

therefore,

much

more

than

a

source

book

or

a

work

of

reference.

It

should

encourage,

among

the

less

doc-

trinaire

members

of

all

of

these

schools,

a

search

for

a

common

ground.

It

should

lessen

the

trend

toward

isolation

and

cult-

ism

so

evident

in

some

more

enthusiastic

adherents

by

making

each

more

aware

of

the

~o~ther’s

findings,

views,

and

methods.

It

is

evidence

that

psychoanalysis

is

com-

ing

of

age.

Criticisms

are

few.

Since

this

reviewer

is

a

student

of

Jung’s

analytical

psychology,

he

paid

special

attention

to

the

section de-

voted

to

this

school.

He

is

happy

to

report

that

impartiality

is

most

evident

here-

even

&dquo;a

genuine

appreciation

of

the

clinical

values

of

Jung’s

theory&dquo;

because

of

&dquo;the

almost

uncanny

insights

they

sometimes

showed&dquo;

(p.

567).

Yet

in this

part

there

is

less

discussion

of

technique

and

meth-

odology

than

in

those

on

other

schools.

Part

III,

dealing

with

Adler,

Horney,

Fromm,

and

Sullivan,

is

rather

chopped

up,

going

from

one

to

another

and

back

again

in

a

way

that

may

confuse

some

readers.

In

the

section

on

Freud,

she

does

not

men-

tion

the

recent

work

of

Thomas

French

of

Chicago

on

the

use

of

the

integrating

force

of

hope

in

treating

psychoneurotics.

He

has

set

forth

this

concept

in

two

volumes

entitled

The

Integration

o

f Behavior.

This,

in

the

opinion

of

the

reviewer,

is

one

of

the

most

significant

advances

in

psychoanalytic

theory

in

recent

years.

She

does

fre-

quently

quote

another

original

thinker

among

psychoanalists,

namely,

Erik

H.

Erikson.

On

the

subject

of

marriage

prob-

lems

there

is

very

little

(except

for

a

brief

reference

to

her

husband’s

excellent

work

in

this

field),

perhaps

because

Freud

and

his

followers

have

never

had

much

to

say

about

them

despite

their

frequency

and

importance.

Schools

of

Psychoanalytic

Thought

is

an-

nounced

as

one

of

a

series

of

publications

in

interpersonal

relations

edited

by

Theo-

dore

M.

Newcomb

of

the

University

of

Michigan.

If

the

others

measure

up

to

this

standard,

it

will

be

a

notable

addition

to

psychological

literature.

ROBERT

A.

CLARK,

M.D.

Friends

Hospital

Philadelphia,

Pa.

BRUNO

BETTELHEIM.

Truants

from

Life.

Pp.

xvi,

511.

Glencoe,

Ill.:

Free

Press,

1955.

$6.00.

This

is

the

long-awaited

and

invaluable

detailed

case

book

describing

Bruno

Bettel-

heim’s

unique

combination

of

milieu

ther-

apy

with

individual

psychotherapy-both

carried

out

through

and

by

his

excellent

team

of

counselors,

a

specially

educated

group

of

personnel

who

are

supervised

by

him

in

their

joint

roles

as

child

care

work-

ers

and

individual

psychotherapists.

The

book

is

made

up

of

a

balanced,

warm

account

of

the

background,

treat-

ment,

and

results

with

four

severely

dis-

turbed

children,

each

with

a

different

prob-

lem,

but

each with

a

basic

difficulty

in

knowing

and

accepting

himself

and

the

world

of

persons

around

him.

Paul,

who

suffered

from

&dquo;institutionitis,&dquo;

needed

to

discover

or

rediscover

that

he

was

a

whole

person

and

not

a

collection

of

isolated

functions,

each

neatly

cared

for

by

a

different

person

or

department.

He

was

&dquo;unfrozen&dquo;

through

an

intimate

and

prolonged

central

relationship

with

one

key

adult.

It

took

three

years

to

help

him

make

the

transition

&dquo;from

Wild

Critter

to

Great

Dictator&dquo;

to

real

person.

Mary,

an

assaultive,

asocial,

seductive,

tantruming,

schizophrenic

girl,

had

re-