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The purpose of this volume of 183 pages is evident from the title. The author has sought to give an explanation and fair criticism of psychoanalysis. His knowledge of it, however, appears to be superficial. The seriousness with which he considers the various mechanisms seems to be inconsistent with the conclusion he draws as to the small value of psychoanalysis, both from a therapeutic and psychological point of view. In the preface he advances three reasons justifying the presentation of this subject. “First, it is simple. It appeals to the man-in-the-street…. Secondly, most of the books on psychoanalysis are quite uncritical. They swallow Freud's teaching whole.” Again he asserts “that most of the books on psychoanalysis are defaced by an entirely unnecessary explicitness in their detailed references to certain sexual perversions. This book is, at least, decent.”
He reviews the subject-matter of several chapters, i. e., “Mind and Body,” “The Psychology of Forgetfulness and Mistakes,” “Dreams—The Oedipus Story,” “What Is a Complex?” “The Unconscious.” After reviewing these mechanisms he states many of these theories are ingenious and plausible, but they are not proven and might be called “naked hypotheses.”
Quoting from his chapter, “The Cure of Psychoneuroses,” “no doubt many cures are worked by psychoanalysis, but there are no statistics to prove the cures or injury to patients by this method.” He warns of the danger and harm that may come from this procedure especially to women who may lose their morals and again the danger from suicide arising from the analysis and cites examples of suicide from Wittels' work. He also warns against the untrained analyst—the charlatan and the fraud.
In the chapter on “Psychoanalysis and Religion,” he discusses the fundamental psychoanalytical explanations of religion, but does not accept