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Unless psychiatrists are on the whole a dull lot, all but lost in conventionality and routine, it is difficult to see how this book can fail to attract widespread attention, to arouse interest little short of the spectacular.
In a small volume of only 296 pages, Dr. Lindner presents: (1) A clear and deeply pertinent concept of the behavior and the essential human status of those numerous patients commonly designated by the almost ridiculously misleading term “psychopathic personality”; (2) A description in sufficient detail of the psychotherapeutic procedure, hypno-analysis; (3) A verbatim recording of the raw material produced in the therapist's actual relations with a patient during successful treatment of a most complicated disorder.
Considering first the author's general formulation of so-called psychopathy, we find a clear and convincing picture that contrasts happily with the vague traditional account of some border-line group composed of diverse eccentrics and malefactors. It is a picture that fits the type of case under discussion and distinguishes it as a psychopathologic entity. The psychopath that Dr. Lindner is concerned with shows good ability and understanding as these are measured by formal tests, but such qualities fail to provide restraint against inappropriate, criminal, or even