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This is a collection of papers by 17 contributors. The preface states that this is a volume reflecting “current views on the subject [of neurosis in children and adolescents] and providing an updated integration of new concepts and trends of our time” (p. xi). There is also a brief section on therapeutic issues. The contributors
include a number of well known child or adolescent analysts, such as E. James Antony, Aaron Esman, Henri Parens, and Charles Sarnoff, to mention just a few. The contributors discuss various aspects of neurosis, such as neuroso-genesis, the infantile neurosis, neurosis and object relations, neurosis in adolescence, and so on.
Several chapters consist of scholarly reviews of an aspect of neurosis. For example Dr. Anthony's chapter includes a detailed discussion of the concept of the “infantile neurosis,” its historical origins, and a review of four famous cases treated by Freud (Dora, Hans, the “rat man,” and the “wolf man”). Dr. Byerly's chapter discusses in detail the relationship between neurosis and object relation theories. He reviews the contributions of Anna Freud, Margaret Mahler, Loewald, and Kernberg, among others. Here again the review is thorough and scholarly. However, both authors, as well as most of the other contributors, review concepts that are well known to analysts familiar with the relevant literature. There is little new material for such readers. Nevertheless the book may be useful to those involved in teaching. Contributions that are found in a variety of journals are summarized here and integrated intelligently. Sholevar (Chapter 11) discusses the concept of “ego ideal” and the concept of “identification” in a way that teachers will find very useful. Unfortunately some contributions, such as those of Mahler, are reviewed in several chapters, leading to numerous repetitions.
Some chapters may have benefited from a consideration of extraanalytic contributions to the topic. Dr. Prall (Chapter 13, “The Neurotic Adolescent”