BROWN, D. and PEDDER, J. Introduction to psychotherapy: an outline of psychodynamic principles and practice. London,  Tavistock Publications, 1959. £3.25.

This is a brief introduction to psychotherapy written by two practising psychoanalysts who are also consultant psychotherapists (and Dennis Brown is also well-known in London as a group analyst). It is aimed at medical students and beginners in psychiatry and is concerned

with all the varieties of psychotherapy that can be called ‘dynamic’, defining as psychotherapy ‘essentially a conversation which involves listening to and talking with those in trouble with the aim of helping them understand and resolve their predicament’. As well as psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, their field includes various forms of group therapy, counselling, social therapy, encounter methods, gestalt, bioenergetics and primal therapy, as well as family and marital therapy.

The authors have faced the task of presenting this vast field in a slim volume by taking an unashamedly psychoanalytic stance and orientating the reader by showing in an ingenious ‘family tree’ how all these movements can be derived from Freud. Before discussing the details of the various schools, they are thus able to present basic psychodynamic principles giving a sufficient outline of theory, including a sketch of development, an exposition of the nature of unconscious conflict, defence mechanisms, etc. Needless to say this account is very rudimentary: what is remarkable is how much has been included and given a simple, clear exposition which avoids talking down to the reader.

In dealing with the various schools, a sensible distinction is drawn between levels of psychotherapy. While giving a succinct account of each school, the authors are able to show how they are all developments (sometimes one-sided and exaggerated) of Freud's original method. The reader is given also a historical guide as to how these movements have developed and how they are related to each other.

Although it would have been nice to see Jung's ideas more fully presented, a reasonable amount of space has in fact been given to analytical psyc