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The arrival of The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child roughly coincides with the last issue of each of the quarterly journals to which I subscribe. It completes another year's publications. The manner in which each of us deals with this flow of literature is probably very individual. Often one picks and chooses: the annual has published many important contributions in the past; the topic is interesting; the author impressive in earlier works; the nature
of the study promising. Some articles are omitted, those that are a disappointment put aside, a few make a lasting impression as a contribution to understanding. Some evoke controversy and critical disagreement. Selection is probably the only feasible use of such a collection. I had never before read this annual straight through; the effect was numbing. Why?
Rather than discuss the individual papers, I would like to consider some of them as they reflect the strengths and weaknesses of this volume and much of psychoanalytic literature.
Certain papers stand out for the clarity with which the author communicates his ideas. Indications and Contraindications for Child Analysis, by Anna Freud, clearly states the precept to be examined, indicates its usefulness and importance, and presents the data from which it is derived. The discussion is concise without being overly condensed or obscure. Such logical development is missing in many of the other papers. The ideas and observations cannot be evaluated or require an inordinate effort of comprehension. A paper on conscience, for example, continues for thirty pages without defining the author's use of that concept or its relation to others frequently referred to, e.g., superego and 'moral activities'.
We are often reminded of the 'close relation' between clinical data and theoretical formulations. Having stated what is almost an analytic truism, it is then ignored. What is the nature of that relation? The formulations must be relevant to the data, useful in its