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Edited by Theodore Millon, Ph.D. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co., 1967. 444 pp.
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY. By Arnold H. Buss, Ph.D. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1966. 483 pp.
After reading these two books, I found myself thinking of Eissler's comment in Medical Orthodoxy and the Future of Analysis that the period required for the acceptance of Freud's theories and discoveries may take longer than a century.
Both authors have the aim of presenting the various theories of psychopathology to graduate students in the behavioral and social sciences. Millon's book consists of a large series of original papers of uneven value, preceded by very brief introductory comments. Freud is presented as one of approximately thirty theorists who have made contributions to the study of the abnormal personality on a par with Bleuler, Meehl, Sheldon, Skinner, Eysenck, Rogers, May, and many others. Millon tells us that 'until a psychological Newton or Einstein comes along, a multiplicity of viewpoints must prevail'. Buss, however, has used a standard textbook format.
Millon divides the subject into biophysical, intrapsychic, behavioral, and phenomenological theories. Buss uses a similar approach describing biological, psychoanalytic, learning, interpersonal, and regression models. The authors are obviously well-read psychologists and are familiar with the literature, but both fail to produce a meaningful, worth-while text because they are not able to synthesize or evaluate the material they present. This is a common problem in many of the books that appear on the teaching scene. Neither author understands the analytic metapsychological approach. Psychoanalysis as an evolving basic science and a research tool of prime import is not appreciated; no clinical data is presented. In fact, Buss specifically states that 'accounts of patients' lives are interesting to read, but tend to distract the reader from the rich and complex issues of abnormal psychology'.
From Freud's writings, Mi