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This book consists of eight lectures, doubtless amplified, which were delivered before the British Institute of Philosophical Studies last year, and it was very well worth while to publish them in book form. We do not know anyone in the field of psychological medicine who has a more critical head than has Dr. Mitchell, and the present volume displays in ample measure his well-known qualities of lucidity, cool judgment and peculiar shrewdness.
The first chapter is devoted to pre-Freudian psychology and contains an interesting—though necessarily sketchy—account of the earlier development of psychopathology. The author justifies his devoting seven-eighths of his space to Freud's work on the score that this represents its dominance in present-day psychopathology. The chapters are headed: Freud and Psycho-Analysis, Theory of the Libido, the Ego in Freudian Psychology, Theory of the Instincts, Theory of the Neuroses, The Application of Medical Psychology, Survey of the Doctrines of Medical Psychology.
The best books, unfortunately, often have the shortest notices, for to criticize needs far more time than to praise. We have nothing but praise for Dr. Mitchell's book, which is a remarkably excellent presentation of the essentials of psycho-analysis. It is a book warmly to be recommended as an introduction to the subject, and it is also very well worth reading by the advanced student because it contains an important discussion of the latest work done in the subject.
The book is essentially a presentation of psycho-analysis. The only criticisms of psycho-analytical views to be found in it are contained in