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Another in the series of monographs issued by the Kris Study Group, this volume has the stated intention of bringing clarification to an area of psychoanalytic theory where the literature is sparse, diffuse, or contradictory. It may be well for readers to keep this aim in mind, lest they feel the work is lacking in novelty or depth. This particular effort is devoted to the two subjects, trauma and symbolism, and they are treated differently: the first section stays fairly close to clinical material with repeated references to abstract concepts; the second makes an over-all summary of a host of points in a more or less ex cathedra fashion.
The topic, Trauma, is presented by David Milrod who proceeds from a historical review to a series of case presentations illustrating a variety of traumatic situations and sequelae. An early goal to define the term and to distinguish definitively between shock trauma and stress (or strain) trauma was not reached. A majority of the participants felt that 'a traumatic experience can only be understood in terms of the entire context of an individual's life history and previous development' (p. 71). Traumata are felt to occur in clusters and shock trauma often occurs in a setting of established stress (or strain) trauma.
To say that the conclusions are modest may be misleading since the clinical presentations are rich and fascinating. My personal guess is that the avowed aim of the Chairman, David Beres, to have clinical material lead to theoretical constructions, rather than to work with a theoretical formulation in mind, has led to this disparity between abundant observations and sparse theory. Perhaps it is time for psychoanalysts to realize that theory does not spring out of observations but that one observes on the basis of one's theory, and observations that do not fit the theory force the scientist to develop or hazard a new theory. One cannot help but feel that this combined venture of these gifted analysts was hampered b