The Manic-Depressive Psychosis.

By Helge Lundholm, Ph.D. (Duke University Psychological Monographs Number 1.) Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press, 1931. 86 p.

SCHIZOPHRENIA. By Helge Lundholm, Ph.D. (Duke University Psychological Monographs Number 2.) Durham, N. C.: Duke University Press, 1932. 117 p.

In introducing the first of these two monographs, Professor McDougall implies that any valid system of psychiatry must be based upon some general view of human nature, that is, upon some psychology. Dr. Lundholm, in his attempts to systematize the two major psychoses, leans heavily upon the psychology of McDougall, and it proves more than once a frail and unreliable support. This is especially the case in the theory of instinct which underlies these studies. The terms "instinct", "impulse", "tendency", "sentiment", "instinctive impulse" are used without discrimination; "protective instinct" is made interchangeable with "tender instinct"; any strong feeling is called an instinct, which tends to make the term devoid of specific meaning and leads to confusion.

The author's theory of personality integration is likewise vague. By his account of disintegration one is led to the following formulation of the integration of personality: One is born either altruistic or egotistic (i. e., with either strong or weak "protective" and "submissive") instincts. In the early stage one is in a state of "confusion proper" (i. e., one is deadlocked as to activity by the great number of contradictory tendencies). One slowly emerges from this confusion through successive stages of incoördinated small movements, restlessness and flight of ideas, entering then into a stage where the tantrum reaction is paramount. After the tantrum stage one enters upon a period of mild egotism. Then, it is to be presumed, one has passed through all the stages of personality integration and one is a normal human being. This is obviously untenable, and yet it appears to be what Dr. Lundholm would have us believe; for he state