Dr. Robinson feels that 'the human problems which surround the patient' are as much the province of the doctor as is the immediate medical complaint presented by the patient. These arise from adverse social conditions affecting subsistence and satisfaction. He does not speak of personality problems in the psychiatric sense, but recognizes 'one basic adverse condition … personal inadequacy'.

The case material consists of one hundred seventy-four dispensary and ward patients of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a fairly unselected group of admissions to the medical service between the spring of 1936 and June, 1937. The method of study involved sympathetic interviews for discussion of the 'work, habits, associates, family, church, or any other topics that seemed to contain a problem'. The 'adverse social conditions' thus revealed were considered from the point of view of the patients' physical and social assets and liabilities, and advice and help were then offered. This inquiry showed that 'adverse social conditions were important