The Meaning and Measurement of Neuroticism and Anxiety

Contemporary European Psychiatry. Edited by Leopold Bellak, M. D. Price, 3. 95. Pp. 372. Grove Press, Inc. , 64 University Pl. , New York 3, 1961. This is not a reprint but an original edition in paperback form. French psychiatry is portrayed by Pichot, German and Austrian by Hoff and Arnold, Great Britain by Lewis, Italy by Cerletti, Scandinavia by Langfelt, the Soviet Union by Gilyarovsky, and Switzerland by Benedetti and Miller. Each section is indeed complete and furnishes an adequate account of psychiatry in each country represented. In Bellak's introduction he quotes Bohm's facetious comparison between American and European psychiatry and then continues with his own criticism: There is no major factor in American psychiatry, with the possible exception of some of its sociological aspects, which does not have its immediate origin in Europe=m- am still talking of recent years. He states: We want a happy combination of adaptive originality and rigid control; of creativity and methodological sophistication. Bellak believes that our team approach and our technical facilities stand in the way of creativity. Then the editor takes several unfair blasts at the foundations and governmental agencies which he contends are controlled by relatively small groups of men who give money only for safe projects. He complains against an inbred group in control of grants who favor its own members, and he decries the influence of academic psychologists whose main concern is for cleanness of design first. It is easy enough to blame the men whose responsibility is the allocation of money for the poor quality of clinical research, but the facts are not at hand to indicate that this is correct. Funds can only be given to the best of applications in any field of science. That very few competent investigators choose the social sciences (including psychiatry) is a by-product of cultural influences and especially current values generally held. What is needed is not carping criticism and off-the-top-of-the-head disparagement of responsible serious professionals who are engaged in educating, inspiring, and ideal-making, but a serious objective investigation into the many causes that delay progress in the battle against mental illness. Roy R. Grinker, Sr. , M. D.