Clinical and Diagnostic Interviewing edited by Robert J. Craig Northvale, NJ:  Jason Aronson, 1989,  xx + 355 pp., $40.00

The clinical fields pertaining to the therapeutic aspects of mental illness, be they psychodynamic, behavioral, or pharmacologic, are difficult to learn and master. Especially difficult is the psychodynamic approach. For those who have come to this area by way of the basic and medical sciences, it is even more difficult. Though by no means minimizing the humanistic and interpersonal aspects of the physician-patient relationship, one must say that the successful attainment of diagnostic and therapeutic skills required in medicine is not really dependent on the physician's sensitivity and appreciation of the patient's feelings. The therapeutic position of the medical or surgical patient is essentially, and necessarily, a passive one, the patient being the willing object of the physician's aggressivity. The treatment of a case of pneumonia, diabetic coma, or any surgical intervention, for example, requires of the treating physician a mastery of the mental and physical skills necessary for the diagnosis and treatment of the specific illness. They are not, for the most part, the same skills that are required for the treatment of the human mind. Though obviously of great importance, the neurologist's, neuroradiologist's, and neurosurgeon's knowledge, for example, of the human brain, cannot be effectively related to the treatment (not yet, anyway) of the mind. The essential difference between the medical and surgical physician, on one hand, and the medical psychiatrist and clinical psychologist, on the other, is evident in the area of verbal treatment, that is, the field of psychotherapy.

In my experience in the teaching and supervision of residents in psychiatric training I have repeatedly seen trainees' difficulty in making the transition from the physical treatment of a malfunctioning body organ to the verbal treatment of a disturbed mind. The task is easier for those who are inherently