You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
A review for psychoanalysts of a textbook of neurology should answer two questions: How good is the book as a reference work for the practicing psychoanalyst? What picture of the human mind, aside from its neurologic substrate, is presented; can the book be recommended as the basic neurological text for the medical student?
Brain begins with an excellent chapter on Disorders of Function in the Light of Anatomy and Physiology. The neurologic syndromes are then presented systematically and lucidly with adequate space and emphasis for the common disorders. For example, the difficult subject of extrapyramidal syndromes is handled most instructively.
In the last chapter, Psychological Aspects of Neurology, the need to present a summary of the psychopathology daily confronting the neurologist proves too much for Lord Brain. Hysteria and occupational neurosis are the only two neuroses officially identified. Allusion is made to 'mental conflict' as a cause of neurosis and to the need to discover this cause but the matter is then dropped. More specific and detailed advice is given about 'firm handling' and symptomatic treatment, particularly hypnosis. In enuresis, 'Hypnotic suggestion will often rapidly bring about a cure in hitherto intractable cases… An attempt should always be made to cure hysterical vomiting in one sitting, a cure once effected usually being permanent.' The four references at the end of the chapter are