An Outline of Abnormal Psychology. By James Winfred Bridges, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Toronto. Second Edition. Published by  R. G. Adams & Co., Columbus, Ohio, 1921.

This book represents an effort to steer between the Scylla on one hand of a ponderous work on psychopathology and on the other hand the Charybdis of a scanty and insufficient outline of the subject. Works of the latter type are not informative enough to be of much use to the student, while the former daunt him by their sheer bulk. Dr. Bridges' book is an outline, but it is more. In it he has tried, on the whole with success, to list and classify all the deviations from normal in the psychic sphere, accompanying each with some attempt at definition and explanation. These latter must necessarily be somewhat dogmatic in method, but where varying conceptions of terms exist the author has pointed these out, and indicated the basic theories.

After covering the field of symptomatology, Dr. Bridges discusses the psychoses and psychoneuroses, mentioning briefly the accepted and the most recent theories concerning them. It is in this part of the work that the need for supplementing the outline itself with fuller discussions and with clinical material is most keenly felt. Here, as elsewhere in the book, there is, however, a list of references at the end of each chapter. These were evidently chosen, not with any wish to be exhaustive, but with the idea of covering the entire field clearly and from more than one viewpoint. It is easy to conceive of this book as being very useful, and the fact that the first edition was quickly exhausted, necessitating the preparation of this one, bears this out. It would be, for example, an ideal guide to use in the writing of a large text book on psychopathology, and could very well serve as a basis for a course of lectures. The present edition contains some new material on such subjects as the subconscious and abnormal religious manifestations. Blank pages are provided for annotations.

Lind