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The United States is at war with Germany and naturally everyone thinks about the coming peace. The author has come forth very bravely on this matter, bearing the standard of psychiatry. International opinion has always been a reserve of those professionally trained in that field in one way or another. The author makes an international medical diognosis, the first this reviewer has seen in full volume form. More power then to him for trying to carry the healing message of medicine to this narrowing world. He finds the German people to be sick and finds that they have had a “paranoid trend” for many generations. It is said that this trend may be present in other nations but not so strongly and not in all attitudes as in the Germans. Now this is a departure from run-of-the-mill psychiatry. I do not recall psychiatrists writing of a paranoid trend in all attitudes. A paranoid trend usually refers to a tendency or a streak in an otherwise well or ill person, showing itself in some of the manifestations of paranoia. Brickner does not say that the Germans have paranoia. Whereas it is well known that a patient suffering from paranoia may very well kill as a result of that condition, the same may not be said of a paranoid trend. The structure of the author's thesis is thus weak from the technical psychiatric angle. It may be that he has not made an entirely correct international diagnosis. Also, it is not true that psychiatrists are afraid of a patient with paranoia.
On the other hand, Dr. Brickner goes along with America in his opinion that Germany needs treatment. It would seem from the newspapers that Germany is getting some kind of shock treatment. It would also seem that the author has the germ of a good idea. However, it will have to be developed more thoroughly; the international family will have to be analysed more carefully before diplomats of any standing give much credence to the idea. If the author believes as he writes, he has plotted out a good five or ten years