Ego Functions in Schizophrenics, Neurotics, and Normals. A Systematic Study of Conceptual, Diagnostic, and Therapeutic Aspects: By Leopold Bellak, M.D.; Marvin Hurvich, Ph.D.; Helen K. Gediman, Ph.D. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1973. 571 pp.

Among psychoanalysts, Bellak is not alone in conceptualizing the schizophrenic syndrome in terms of the impairment of ego functions. He is, however, one of the very few who not only thinks it useful to quantify such impairment, but has actually designed and carried out a research project to formulate an assessment of ego functioning in schizophrenics and neurotics, as well as in normal persons. The book under review is a report of this impressive research project conducted by Bellak and his associates.

The book is divided into four parts, with appendices. Part I gives a brief account of structural theory, aimed at familiarizing readers with the authors' psychoanalytic orientation and with the concept of the ego and its functions. Part II discusses the rationale for the final selection of twelve ego functions for evaluation. These are: reality testing; judgment; sense of reality of the world and of the self; regulation and control of drives, affects, and impulses; object relations; thought processes; adaptive regression in the service of the ego; defensive functioning; stimulus barrier; autonomous functioning; synthetic-integrative functioning; and mastery-competence. Since the assessment of these ego functions constitutes the core of this research project, the authors rightly devote a whole chapter to the definition and the dimension of each