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Books on mental hygiene and allied subjects, the individual's adjustment and relationship to society, are being written for the lay public by specialists in various fields such as sociologists, pedagogues, professors of mathematics, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists. One naturally seeks the common ground held and the particular points of view stressed by the various authorities.
It was therefore with interest that the reviewer began reading this book which has gone through three printings since 1937. The author states that the book is written for the average reader who has an interest in the subject of mental health but who lacks formal training in psychology and psychiatry. He further states that it is hoped that the pages may be of some small help to parents and teachers and others who are entrusted with the training of children and may even aid adults in preserving their own mental health.
A work of this nature, from the pen of an eminent churchman who at the same time is the president of a Catholic university, will attract the attention of the psychiatrist and of those associated with the various aspects of mental hygiene. How is mental hygiene interpreted, what particular religious point of view is presented, how is the average untrained reader encouraged to face frankly his responsibilities in the problems of adjustment? These are some of the questions that immediately loom up in the reviewer's mind.
The first six chapters, particularly The Meaning of Mental Hygiene, The Rôle of Heredity and Environment, Training of Children for Failure, Adjustment of Parent and Child, and Mental Hygiene and the School, are very readable and should capture the interest of the average reader. The material is informative and the advice offered is wholesome in the main. However, the reviewer felt that much more nourishing information was needed