The author, an accredited psychoanalyst, became involved in the treatment of psychotics in the sanitarium where he has been Medical Director since 1939. He says on page 37, 'Very often there is, for reasons unknown, a great reluctance in chronic schizophrenics to respond to stimuli… If this stimulation cannot be attained by usual methods, other means have to be added.' Shock treatments were consequently prolonged to the point of decerebration, and 'refractory cases', when they resumed breathing, were given inhalations of acetone. The theoretical justification for these methods makes up the book.

Schizophrenia is defined as an incurable disease which is caused by insufficient feeding in the first weeks of life. Insufficient feeding is proven by loss of weight and acidosis. These symptoms are compensated