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A real debt is owed to Dr. Allen by those interested in acquiring some understanding of the history of modern psychological thought without the necessity of delving into original writings or elaborate expositions of the various points of view which have been developed.
He starts by explaining that the volume deals with studies of morbid psychology rather than with those of the psychological laboratory, and points out that studies of abnormal or aberrant mental processes have contributed very largely to our better understanding of the dynamics of normal mental functioning.
Taking Mesmer as the first experimenter of any note in this field, he traces the growing understanding of observational data through the two hundred years that have lapsed since his birth. As significant contributors to our modern ideology he has selected Janet, Morton Prince, Freud, Adler, Jung, Kretschmer, and Pavlov. In each instance he gives a summarized account of their contributions to the field of morbid psychology, appends a remarkably unbiased criticism, and evaluates their place in the history of modern psychotherapy.
Two chapters are devoted to the work of Freud and the Psychoanalytical School, and the author makes it clear that he considers their contributions to modern psychotherapy of the utmost importance.
Adler is criticised for his repudiation of the significance of unconscious processes, Jung for his preoccupation with mythology.
The story of the schism between Freud and Jung is very incomplete, the author apparently assuming that the basic reason was Jung's aversion to regarding sexuality with an objective scientific