The Child in his Family. The Impact of Disease and Death. Volume 2. (Yearbook of the International Association for Child Psychiatry and Allied Professions.): Edited by E. James Anthony, M.D. and Cyrille Koupernik, M.D. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1973. 509 pp.

The second volume of this series continues the procedure of compiling contributions from authors representing different disciplines and

cultures. There are thirty-five articles and three symposia which are grouped into seven sections: General Aspects; Disease; Dying; Death and Mourning; Suicide, Homicide and Parricide; Survival and The Transcultural Experience of Disability, Dying and Death.

The nuclear insights revolve around two periods of crisis regarding death during childhood. The first, based on separation anxiety and fear of abandonment, occurs between ages four and six; the second occurs between nine and eleven years of age and is brought about by the realization of the irreversibility of death in relation to both the self and loved ones. In addition, the volume depicts the ways in which surviving members of a family look to one another for solace and emotional support. Some families may respond to the dangers of loss and death by growth and differentiation; others by collapse followed by recovery; still others by regression and disintegration. The psychic economy of the family with a sick or dying child is disturbed and the child becomes the permanent epicenter of this disequilibrium.

In the first section an article by Anthony entitled A Working Model for Family Studies attempts to outline a developmental transaction model for studying the family. He notes that cognitively the family may represent a heterogeneous group, with individual members at different cognitive levels so that transactions may be confused and members may fail to communicate with one another. On a psychosexual scale the predominantly oral, anal, phallic, and genital members of the family may have difficulty in understanding or empathizing with one another. Finally, on a psychosocial scale, while younger members may be struggling to assert their autonomy, the older members may feel themselves in a rut and isolated from each other. Anthony points out that such a model attempts to