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William Brown published the first edition of this little book in 1920 shortly after his experiences as a medical officer in the first World War. At the time of its original publication it was a really
needed work. There was little then available on the war neuroses and psychoses viewed from the standpoint of the new depth psychology. A slight revision was undertaken in 1921, a rather thorough one in 1934, and finally this edition, which is enlarged and somewhat rewritten and motivated to some extent by Brown's reactions to the present World War. Thus the book has grown from a simple presentation of the new psychology illustrated by the neuroses and psychoses of war times to a rather pretentious but sketchy introduction to psychology and psychotherapy in general. It even goes far beyond this as certain chapter headings show: Psychology and the Adolescent, Sublimation and Spirituality, Psychology of Peace and War, and Psychical Research and the Eternal Values.
Brown claims his position has grown more sympathetic towards psychoanalysis with the years, but he still considers himself an eclectic who has founded his own system. Most psychoanalysts will view his sympathy with some misgivings. The presentation of psychoanalysis is far from accurate and up-to-date and is in addition tempered with evaluative and moral judgments which do not belong to natural science. The whole earlier portion of the book describes the psychoanalysis of around 1910 and the only mention of the theory of aggressive urges and the metapsychology is brought in arbitrarily in the revision. Brown's own system, despite his claims of its lack of inner contradiction, leans on psychoanalysis to some extent but almost as heavily on 'spiritual values' and 'common-sense'. From the book it is hard to get a clear picture of it. This difficulty comes from the fact that the revisions are evidently 'paste and scissors' jobs with the addition of various occasional papers rather than thorough and hone