Personality in Arterial Hypertension: By C. A. L. Binger, N. W. Ackerman, A. E. Cohn, H. A. Schroeder, J. M. Steele. Published under the sponsorship of The American Society for Research in Psychosomatic Problems, New York, 1945. 230 pp.

Physicians generally agree that psychic factors play some part in essential hypertension. Thus, it is always emphasized that allowance must be made for the emotional element in individual blood pressure readings. It is also well known that rest and reassurance play a large part in the management of hypertensive patients, both in relief of symptoms and in reduction of blood pressure levels. The early symptoms of hypertension are often exactly those of a psychoneurosis. Emotional stress at times seems to precede the onset of hypertension, and anxiety bears a close relationship to the aggravation of existing symptoms in hypertension. Studies of personality often reveal conflict which seems to stand in close relationship to anxiety.

In an effort to throw further light on this subject Binger and his associates present a monograph containing the detailed psychological and physiological studies of twenty-four patients with hypertension. No effort is made to prove 'psychogenesis'; on the contrary, the authors refrain from drawing conclusions regarding the lôle of psychic factors in the development of essential hypertension. Minute observations and psychological data are contained in the first case which was studied by psychoanalysis (Ackerman), and much corroborative material was obtained from other patients who were interviewed by Drs. Binger and Ackerman.