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This book is primarily a reference work with a psychiatric orientation. Though it lacks a psychoanalytic point of view, it is heartily recommended because Goldberg offers definitions that are not confusing, obscure, or overexplanatory. Psychoanalytic students of psychopathology will find the book helpful in their studies, and psychoanalytic practitioners and researchers will welcome the down-to-earth discussions of neurotic, borderline, and psychotic states.
Goldberg begins his discussion with the nature and effect of conflicts. Then he focuses on anxiety as a main factor in neuroses, distortion of reality as a main factor in psychoses, and acting out as an important characteristic of personality disorders. The last chapter is devoted to organic brain syndromes and psychophysiological disorders.
The book contains many cases which are presented from a psychiatric point of view and are therefore of little use to the psychoanalytically oriented reader.
The value of the book lies in the fact that the author provides “explanations of emotional and mental disorders in a language that is clear and concise as well as scientifically accurate and in line with modern psychiatric thinking and teaching.”