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Dr. barbara, a pupil of the late Karen Horney, has presented us a readable, interesting and challenging study of stuttering from the psychoanalytic point of view. The book is a worthwhile undertaking since it gives the reader some valuable understanding of the phenomenon of stuttering as well as a fairly complete review of Horney's theory of neurosis and human motivation.
The author's approach is a holistic one; he feels that stuttering can be understood only within the context of the total personality and that many etiological factors play a role in the genesis of the syndrome. To Dr. Barbara, the important thing is to place less emphasis on the symptom and more on the character structure of the individual who is stuttering. With that as his focal point, the author proceeds to give a detailed account of Horney's theory of neurosis. He endeavors to use these theoretical concepts to weave the disconnected, fragmented knowledge of stuttering into one understandable whole.
The book opens with definitions and informative data about the subject, such as the age at onset of stuttering, its preponderance in males, the high familial incidence and so on. It then goes on to a fairly concise and objective discussion of the theories about stuttering held by various authorities. There follows a chapter on stuttering in psychotics which seems misplaced in the early part of the book. It is followed by an excellent chapter called “Basic Dynamics.” It is in this chapter that the author comes to grips with the actual development of the symptom of stuttering in the receptive soil of an already anxious and frightened child. His thesis, which he has developed with the assistance of the theoretical work of Wendell Johnson, is that all children have some disturbance, more or less, in fluidity and fluency of speech. In the overwhelming majority of children no stuttering will develop. However, because of the operation of unhealthy factors in the personalities of some parents—such as a perfect