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This book, for its type, is not without some merit. It belongs to the large and expanding category of books written in the last two or three decades with the purpose of orienting or guiding the indiscriminate layman. It deals with the class of problems that are partly inherent in our social system and partly due to difficulties of the individual; problems which are partly due to lack of proper information, and in part are a result of uncertainties and anxieties produced by modern trends in education and psychiatry which have not yet been properly assimilated, or have not filled the gaps that have been created by the passing into discard of former attitudes or ways of thinking. Its emphasis is on practical 'preventive psychiatry for everyday use', as the subtitle reads. It deals very little with questions of dynamics and, as a rule, avoids the use of technical terms. Its style is unassuming, perhaps a little too matter-of-fact. Statements are made with much moderation and latitude, so that they should appeal to a rather wide group of readers. There is hardly anything in the book which could be labeled as tendentious.
Throughout there is an attempt to point out that much unnecessary conflict is produced by the need to conform to certain standards which are rather artificially set up in our current culture and which, themselves, may partly have been created through misunderstanding of scientific discoveries. Many individuals, who otherwise might remain 'normal', are incapable of conforming to these standards and, consequently, do not make proper 'adjustments'. In such situations it is not necessary to undergo treatment which aims at changing the structure of the personality. Welltimed advice may enable the individual to function on another level. Psychiatry should be rational.
The principal situations where individuals have difficulty in meeting social pressures are: first, competition in school, the necessity of getting high grades; second, the pressure to c