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This book was written with an eminently practical purpose in mind: to serve as a supplement in teaching psychiatric residents. Consistent with this purpose, it is written in simple, clear language, unencumbered by complicated psychodynamics, which makes it readable even for the beginner whose theoretical knowledge of psychoanalysis is still limited and who approaches his first patient with expectable trepidation. Consequently, it does not provide much, if anything, for the more experienced practitioner of psychoanalysis. If this is to be deemed a shortcoming, it must not come as a surprise to the author.
There is much in the volume with which one can agree wholeheartedly and stated with a frankness not too common among medical men. In dealing with the question of whether psychoanalytic psychotherapy is essentially a medical function, Hollender stresses that it “is more than just a historical derivative of medicine;” that the therapist's role takes over certain aspects of the physician's, as well as of the educator's, and actually establishes one which is sui generis; even though, “depending on the bias of the observer, the resemblance to conventional medical practice or to education attracts attention.… In the final analysis it can be said that while the therapist functions like the physician and the teacher, he has developed a method that is unique and distinctively his own.”
The same unequivocal attitude of professional honesty appears in a chapter on “Medical Diagnosis and Treatment.” Here the author states that “Most patients understand that the therapist, even if he is a physician, does not diagnose or treat physical disorders,” and “… very few psychiatrists are able to maintain a level of competence equal to that of the well-trained and busy internist.” Addressing himself to the frequently proposed issue of medical safeguards or protection for psychiatric patients, Hollender says, “… the danger is certainly not great for the patient in psychoanalytic psychothera