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The popularity and need for this third edition is evidenced by its appearance five years after the last one. The author took the occasion
for this revision to include progress in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders and to 'correct or improve' passages which were subjected to criticism.
The essential outlines of this edition are similar to those in the previous book. The first chapter on Fundamental Considerations is totally new. In it the author attempts to show that the treatment of psychiatric disorders should be considered a part of medicine in general. In this Diethelm elaborates on the emotional influence on the bodily functions. He does not confine himself to the principles set forth by a particular school of thought, but embraces all the various points of view prevalent today. The emphasis undoubtedly is stressed on psychobiologic and psychopathologic formulations set forth by Adolf Meyer and the author's own psychotherapeutic approach, called Dynamic Psychotherapy (Chapter VII). The outstanding modifications are to be found in the chapters on psychotherapeutic discussions, electroconvulsive and surgical treatments, and in the treatment of alcoholism. The author advocates intensive psychotherapy of depressions and manic-depressive reactions based on studies of clinical cases.
Chapter V on Psychoanalytic Procedure is fundamentally unchanged. A previous omission on the importance of the fear of loss of love in women, as compared to the role of castration anxiety present in men, is stressed in the new edition. The psychoanalytic approach in the treatment of psychotics, which has been the subject of many investigations in the last five to ten years, is still, in my opinion, not given adequate space.