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To my knowledge, this collection of papers is the first organised work on the subject of the analytic treatment of the mentally handicapped. This book is a dramatic elaboration of the collective thinking and experience of a group of workers from seven different countries that met on two separate occasions to present and discuss their work. Both theoretical and clinical papers are included, and their underlying theme and mood is a homage to Maud Mannoni, who died
before the publication of the collection. She was a founder and the grande dame of the entire field of enquiry. The volume is justified by the information about Mannoni's work itself that the writers have made available. The clinical papers are wonderfully illustrative of a kind of freedom and adaptability that the workers have needed in order to help mentally handicapped people of all ages and with a wide spectrum of ailments. Nevertheless, a cognitive impairment is present in all of these patients, even though some of the writers clearly have come to the opinion that there is no way of clearly differentiating the physical and psychological origins of the deterioration of mental abilities. Although the writers come from various theoretical backgrounds, they advocate quite similar approaches in relating to and treating these patients and their families.
One of the authors’ most frequent messages is that each of the handicapped patients is first, and most fundamentally, fully a human being. Any attempt to reduce the individual to a nosological entity is likely to result in very limited and often disastrous outcomes. The approach most advocated is the creation of an environment wherein each individual can express his desires through his behaviour which the staff then interpret, and where the living situation is designed to make the best use of the individual's assets. The plans of the treatment span the entire gamut of psychotherapeutic possibilities, from the use of the entire village to a nearly classical a