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The author of this book has herein attempted to outline a “science of man,” an “empirico-psychological Science of Man” which proposes to grasp and explore man as a totality in all of his multiformity including the problems of “nervousness” neurosis being defined as “not yet a disease but actually standing on the border-line between disease and health.” Preliminary to the actual delineation of “psycho-expedition” as a method of investigation he attempts to make some evaluation of the other schools of psychology. It is emphasized that each of these other schools confines its studies to special tendencies and neglects or ignores the “organic multiformity of man's soul”; that clinical psychiatry and experimental psychology in spite of their great contribution to science have “become positively alien to real life,” and that the “Science of Man” begins where psychoanalysis leaves off, as it incorporates the results of all scientific research.
The name “Psycho-Expedition” is an intriguing term for an expedition or exploration into the mind of man, and in reading the book we hasten to realize our anticipations, which have been stimulated by such preliminary statements as “it begins at a point where psychoanalysis left off” and “Verily, the psychological expedition is the acid test for simplicity,” etc., only to discover that the carefully devised method consists of life history accounts, self descriptions, “confessions” and minute diary records of the thoughts, emotions, wishes, etc., of the person investigated, over a period of time. From this material, from interviews with the patient concerning it, and from the diary an idea is gained of the “inner life” of the individual. It would seem to those acquainted with psychoanalytic methods, that it is just this type of material with which the psychoanalyst acquaints himself before beginning an analysis of the deeper and causative factors.