Succinct essays such as this are rare in psychiatric literature. Eissler examines thoroughly the difficult problem of establishing criteria for recovery from neuropsychiatric disorders. He discusses somatic medicine's criterion of restoration of function, in relation to current attitudes in psychiatry toward recovery.

Admittedly no satisfactory test for evaluating cure has been developed. Two short cases illustrate that the patient's outward 'objective' behavior, his social adjustment and his denial of complaint are senseless indices of mental health. Assay of the integration of his 'inner personality', though still a vague concept, promises the most reliable estimation. Three test situations are suggested and described at length: 1, the reaction of the patient's ego to biological changes such as occur in the process of aging; 2, the reaction of the patient's ego to emotional pressures such as the sentiments of unorganized masses; and 3, the patient's effect on his children.