The Psychology of Deafness. Techniques of Appraisal for Rehabilitation: By Edna Simon Levine, Ph.D. New York: Columbia University Press, 1960. 383 pp.

Deafness and the problems of the deaf have received scant attention from psychoanalysis. In fact, professional rehabilitation and research in the field have lagged far behind these activities for the blind and orthopedically handicapped. The chief obstacle has been the central problem in deafness: the impairment of communication. Yet this problem, its effect on ego development in the congenitally deaf, and the potential value of research on deafness for advancing our knowledge of normal ego development, constitute an obvious challenge to the behavioral and social sciences.

Dr. Levine, a clinical psychologist who has worked with the deaf for fifteen years, has met the challenge admirably. Her book is a major pioneer contribution to rehabilitation. It is much more than an excellent manual for clinical psychologists; it can be read with profit by psychoanalysts and other workers interested in the problems of the physically handicapped of every kind. It is a superbly written summary of theoretical and practical fundamentals, an honest statement of the big gaps in knowledge pertaining to the rehabilitation of the deaf, and it includes a most precise and complete outline of needed research that will stimulate the creative reader. The psychoanalyst will find particularly valuable Dr. Levine's lucid delineation of complex diagnostic and educational problems, for example, the differences between congenital and acquired deafness, and between sudden deafness and gradual impairment of hearing.

The theoretical presentation and technical suggestions reveal a sound psychoanalytic orientation as well as familiarity with the contributions of other disciplines. The material is organized in a manner ideal for learning and teaching. A series of appendices incorporates a wealth of useful data in readily accessible form and