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As explained in the introduction, the aim of this book is to reach a wide readership, beyond that of psychologists, in the hope of stimulating a greater acceptance of analysis. The common basis of analytical techniques (Freudian, Adlerian, Jungian) is well summarized in the introductory chapter, special emphasis being given to Baudouin's methods and theories. (The author was a co-worker of Baudouin's for many years.)
Thus, Baudouin's ‘psychagogie’ is presented as a combination of the analytic and synthetic methods, stressing not only the unconscious events themselves but also their continuity. The ‘psychology of instances’ due to Baudouin is described as ‘the discovery of a psychological hierarchy’ in that personality formation results from a series of seven ‘instances’ emerging successively one from the other: the automaton, the id, the persona, the ego, the shadow, the super-ego and the self.
Eight cases are presented. They have been chosen because of their short duration, their clarity and their success. The cases relate to a religious sublimation of a family neurosis; an agoraphobia; Don Juan on the way to wisdom; an obsessional neurosis; an inhibition to marriage; a depression; a character disorder; and a marital conflict. Each case is presented very clearly and vividly; and wherever possible the analytical concepts are explained in a lucid and simple way.
Notwithstanding the fact the author claims that both the analytic and synthetic methods should be used together, the treatment given of these cases suggests a preference for the synthetic method. The analytic material selected consists in the main of dreams, their associations and the interpretations put on them at an archetypal level. The interpretations were often followed by abreactions producing a change in the patient. One case in particular—‘the religious sublimation of a family neurosis’—is of special interest, for the material provided by the patient appears to demonstrate clearly Baudouin's schema of se