Introduction to Psychiatry

Review of Textbook of Abnormal Psychology. By Carney Landis and M. Marjorie Bolles. Revised edition. (Pp. 634; illustrated. £1 17s. 6d.) New York and London: The Macmillan Company. 1950.

British Medical Journal, 7 July 1951

  This textbook of psychiatry has an unusual plan, for contrary to the established usage the descriptive accounts of individual forms of mental disorder precede, instead of succeed, the section on general psychopathology. In order, therefore, that the student may have some idea of what psychiatry is about, there is a preliminary short introductory section entitled "Orientation" ; and the book ends with a section on diagnosis and therapy. The attitude taken by the authors is refreshingly eclectic: gaps in our knowledge are not concealed, and they do not attempt to force on the student any partial or. dogmatic scheme.

   Among its many merits the book is simply and easily written, with every attempt to clarify the simplest problems. It is therefore well designed for use by the undergraduate medical student. Its over-simplification and cursory treatment of important aspects make it unsuitable for the psychiatrist or for the specialist in training.