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The widespread use of psychoanalytic hypotheses in interpreting 'national character' has made its way into numerous anthropological studies. But in several recent publications, certain misconceptions and oversimplifications concerning these hypotheses have raised a question as to the validity of such blanket application of psychoanalytic theories. The idea of a functional relationship between
preoedipal training and adult habit patterns seemed an easy approach for the explanation of trends in collective behavior. It was assumed by implication that by gathering sufficiently detailed information about the care of infants in a tribe, or eve a modern people, much of the manifest adult behavior could be explained.
Reality and Dream constitutes a new and different approach in the vast field of culture and personality. It is a responsible psychiatric-anthropological investigation into the personality of a (Wolf) Plains Indian, under treatment in the Winter Veterans Hospital at Topeka. The author, familiar with the clinical technique of psychoanalytic therapy and a skilled field ethnographer, undertook the counseling of this Indian who suffered from a severe neurosis. As an anthropologist, well acquainted with Plains Indian culture, Devereux was especially fitted to assess this patient's conflicts and needs.
In contrast to other publications of this kind, the author submits the verbatim account of thirty sessions he spent with his patient. On the basis of his intimate knowledge of Plains Indians' beliefs and customs, Dr. Devereux was in a position to distinguish between this man's emotional reactions and the specific conditions fostered by the psychocultural situation of today's American Indians. He understood and utilized fully his role in the transference as a helper and the Indian 'guardian spirit'.
Among the interviews are excellent examples demonstrating this anthropologic-psychoanalytic approach:
'Patient: The old-timers say that they dream of beavers or spirit