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As indicated in the preface, this book has been written primarily for the use of nurses and attendants but also with regard to its value for others whose work requires an understanding of mental illness.
It is arranged in two sections, the first dealing with the principles of psychiatric nursing and the second with psychiatry in its relation to psychiatric nursing. The first chapter is devoted to an introduction to the mental hospital and presents the common attitudes toward a mental hospital, the individual patient who is mentally ill, and toward visitors and relatives. The student is then given directions for the care of the new patient, special psychiatric problems are discussed and psychiatric treatment is outlined.
The second section contains a brief review of the history of psychiatry, the etiology and symptomatology of mental disease and a chapter devoted to general types of abnormal behavior. Psychiatric disorders are discussed with a concise case history abstract illustrating nearly every type of mental illness. Legal considerations, prevention of mental disease and a brief description of the most generally accepted psychiatric schools of thought are included. Answers to queries of a newly admitted patient and an annotated bibliography are appended.
The treatment of the problem of orientation to the psychiatric nursing service and the use of properly selected case history material make this a worth while addition to the present library of text books for psychiatric nurses. The entire subject matter is well adapted to the designated purpose of the book.
The use of certain terms commonly employed in psychiatric hospitals, such as 'denudative' and 'mutilative', not found in the standard source books, as well as the interchange of the term 'paranoidal' and 'paranoid', seem regrettable. There are minor criticisms, however, and the book reflects the considerable experience and purpose of the authors.