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We have had books on psychiatry for nurses, psychiatry for medical students, 'psychiatry for the curious' and now we have a volume on
psychiatry for social workers. That there is a need for a book on this subject has been recognized for some time. The growing number of practitioners form a hungry group. Courses covering this topic in training schools for social workers are as varied as the number of instructors. Numerous professional committees have been striving to condense the extensive data in this field for adequate training in psychiatric social work. Their findings have not appeared in book form. Consequently, the time is ripe for some contribution which might be widely used by training schools and thus reduce some of the confusions.
Dr. Lowrey has divided his material into eighteen chapters following the usual psychiatric nosology. An appended reading list on psychiatry, psychoanalysis, mental hygiene and social work is quite short and selective. Dr. Lowrey gives credit in his preface to teachers, colleagues, writers, social agency staffs and patients. The author is well known to psychiatric social workers as he was one of the pioneers in the child guidance movement in this country. He has worked in close collaboration with social workers both in a clinical setting and in a professional school. His practical experience as consultant to social agencies has given him a position of authority on this subject.
The reaction to the book is one of disappointment, both from a professional and from a literary viewpoint. Although it is from the pen of one who has been a successful editor of a periodical of wide circulation and high standards, his material sprawls through a wide range of subjects, sketchy short paragraphs follow fast upon each other, his description of the major types of disorders is carried on in a running fire of facts. The train of thought is frequently clouded by parentheses. More careful editing would have produced better results.
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