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We are indebted to Vanderbilt University for the publication of the Abraham Flexner Lectures given by Dr. Willi Hoffer to a general medical audience. The scholarly tradition of all Flexner lectureships is well known, particularly to Americans. Dr. Hoffer has portrayed the finest ideals in this series of five lectures, entitled as follows: Principles of Training in Psychoanalysis; Internal Conflict and Anxiety; Some Aspects of the Psychoanalytic Investigation of Childhood; Ego Reactions in Cerebral Disease; and Some Problems of Ego Psychology. The author's repute as a superb educator is lucidly depicted in each chapter, by simple delineation of rather complicated material.
Dr. Hoffer prudently makes no attempt to cover the entire field of psychoanalysis but seems to set himself the task of describing the kit of tools with which psychoanalysts work, and the basic concepts underlying their procedures. He broadly defines some of the areas in which we conduct research. He describes ably and simply the fundamentals operating in psychoanalytic therapy, which pointed the way to some of the challenging research being done today. Questions to be answered by research are wisely and successfully balanced with known facts throughout the lectures.
No one has explained more clearly and succinctly the principles of training in psychoanalysis. Internal conflict and anxiety are accurately and fully described for the nonspecialized audience. The art of such exposition will be most appreciated by the reader who himself has attempted such a task in teaching. The case presentation tends toward a degree of obscurity in reading which it may not have had in the spoken lecture.
Considerable thought is given to the investigation of the emotional development and the problems of children. There is a wealth of research and factual material pertinent to a longitudinal view of emotional health and disease. In the United States many