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From the heritage of Freud and the work of its contemporary leaders,
clinical psychiatry is developing its own ideas of the nature and etiology of schizophrenia, together with some ideas and procedures for treatment. However, there is a continuing interest in the development of new theories in psychiatry and related disciplines. Accordingly, the clinical psychiatrist will be eager to read and discuss Dr. Jackson's new anthology which contains fourteen papers by investigators in genetics, biochemistry, physiology, psychology, sociology, and family dynamics. Three of the papers are comprehensive reviews of recent research; the remainder deal with research in which the respective contributors have been involved personally.
At first blush, the book seems to promise some definite answers to the question: what is the etiology of schizophrenia? Unfortunately, however, it does not live up to expectations. Having read it, the clinician will have grave doubts that some of the individual contributors are sufficiently acquainted with schizophrenia—the entity whose etiology they are supposed to be seeking. When they refer to 'the schizophrenic', the reader does not know if they are referring to the so-called 'ambulatory schizophrenic' (whom some would classify as a neurotic, not a schizophrenic), or to the 'chronic', backward schizophrenic patient of our large institutions, or to so-called 'schizophrenic children' (in whom some find no sign of schizophrenia).
With this questionable understanding of schizophrenia itself, the contributors are correspondingly circumspect in addressing themselves to the question. Six of the fourteen papers state that the etiology of schizophrenia is unknown, but they assume—without manifest evidence to justify the assumption—that it will be found in their respective areas of inquiry, and they describe in great detail the ingenious and 'promising' research that is being carried on. The other eight papers plunge directly into descriptions of