Psychoanalysis and the War Neuroses. By Drs. S. Ferenczi, K. Abraham, E. Simmel and E. Jones, with an Introduction by Prof. S. Freud. The International Psychoanalytic Library No. 2. Published by  George Allen and Unwin, Ltd. London, 1921. Price 7s. 6d.

One of the best, if not the best, discussions of the war neuroses from a psychoanalytic viewpoint that has appeared in English, particularly with reference to the widespread criticism of neurologists that the experiences of the war have definitely refuted Freud's doctrine of the universality of a sexual factor in the etiology of the neuroses. This question is really made the kernel of all the essays and no neurologist should jump at the conclusion of a simon pure fear neurosis until he has carefully digested what they contain.

The war neuroses have revivified the old problem of the traumatic neuroses and manifestly raised questions that are somewhat different from those we have been accustomed to meet in the transference neurosis-hysteria. Freud has made the illuminating suggestion that their solution will probably be found in the understanding of the narcissistic libido, that is, the libido attached to the ego, and which constitutes self-love. That self-love has its libidinous component is pretty well recognized, so that if this suggestion proves correct the absence of sexuality from the neurosis will be proved to be only apparent. The neurologists have been misled by the obvious which is one of the most frequent errors of the psychoanalytically untrained mind when it approaches the problem of the neuroses. To get over the idea that a neuroses, like a dream, is not what it appears on the surface, is one of the most difficult lessons psychoanalysis has had to teach.

The essays are all excellent. The analysis of the components of “real dread” by Jones is particularly to be commended. He suggests that even in states of dread where the individual is confronted by a real, objective danger one component of this complex state, namely, the terror which effectually paralyses thought and action alike, cannot be considered as a useful reaction under the circumstances inasmuch as it does not aid the individual in dealing effectively with the situation. He correlates this comp