Adventure in Mental Health: Psychiatric Social Work with the Armed Forces in World War II. A Symposium by: Betty P. Broadhurst, Irving Brodsky, Elwood W. Camp, Almena Dawley, Ethel L. Ginsburg, Irving Greenberg, Frank T. Greving, Sidney Hechter, Alfred J. Kahn, Henry S. Maas, Daniel E. O'Keefe, Daniel L. Prosser, Myron J. Rockmore, Elizabeth H. Ross, Forrest H. Whitney, Imogen S. Young. Edited by Henry Maas. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1951. Pp. 334. ($4.50). 30 s.)

This book is a review of psychiatric social work done during the recent war. It is difficult to read, as the style is on the whole ponderous, though there is a marked difference among the individual contributors. It describes work done in all branches of the services, both medical and combat. One of the later chapters contains an evaluation of the work done.

The book shows how the psychiatric social worker can help the individual in the Services, and how Service life modified the psychiatric social worker's case work principles since he was subject to the same stresses and strains as his client. The psychiatric social worker was the only person who made any attempt to understand the serviceman's personal problems whatever they might be, but it was clearly understood that the ultimate goal was to help him to be a better soldier. It is stated that the interviews, which ranged from a few minutes to weeks of group therapy in hospitals, were kept as objective as possible in order to keep transference relationship at a minimum, as the men were likely to be transferred or discharged at short notice. In these circumstances only superficial adjustments could be made, but the fact that these psychiatric services were increasingly employed would indicate that this type of interview and adjustment was of considerable value in improving the efficiency of the individual soldier.

As the exact rôle of the psychiatric social worker is not generally well understood the book would have been improved by a fuller use of illustrative case histories.