Twenty-eight papers cover theoretical, clinical, and treatment aspects of acting out as well as the use of psychological tests for prediction of the acting out tendency. Dr. Leopold Bellak, the author of the first paper, presents a fine general review of the concept, including a metapsychological formulation of the problem.

The remaining papers are of uneven content and often only distantly related to the subject. This appears to be the consequence of a very wide definition of the term. It is variously employed in the book to mean action in general, neurotic action in particular, impulsivity, overactivity, symptoms (homosexuality), asocial behavior, and criminality.

Acting Out is an interesting and readable book in which depth of understanding is sacrificed to width of coverage.