Readings in Psychoanalytic Psychology

Edited by Morton Levitt. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, London: Staples Press, 1959.

Identity and Anxiety. Survival of the Person in Mass Society. Edited by Maurice R. Stein, Arthur J. Vidich, and David Manning White. (Glencoe, Ill: Free Press, 1960. Pp. 658.)

In the past three decades not only has the number of psycho-analytic journals increased, but the writings of analysts are also being sought after by, and have become acceptable to, a vast variety of periodicals. It was natural, then, that a need for collecting significant articles from this random spread should arise, and many such collections now exist. The distinguishing merit of the two books under consideration is that they are well and judiciously organized round significant themes.

Morton Levitt's book is more specifically addressed to psycho-analysts and those among psychiatrists who are interested to find out about the recent developments in psycho-analytic theory and technique. In all it contains twenty-six contributions, twelve of which have been specially written for this volume. Dr Levitt has divided the contributions into six sections: General Considerations, Developmental Psychology, the Ego and Defensive Processes, Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, Theory and Technique, and Applied Psychoanalysis. By way of introduction he has personally contributed two lucid and helpful essays on Freud, one biographical and the other theoretical. He has also supplied short introductory remarks to each essay which help the reader to place it in perspective, and the added collateral reading lists are well-selected and useful. The quality of the papers can be briefly indicated by referring to a few, such as those by Hartmann, Glover, Fries, Loewenstein among others. The book is well produced and should be of real value to students and seminar teachers. Its major failing is that it completely disregards the contributions of the British School over the past thirty years. An article each from Melanie Kle