The Psycho-Analytical Approach to Juvenile Delinquency

it contains little that will be new to the experienced psychiatric worker in this field. The book is divided into three parts, of which the third is by far the best. The first part contains a clear concise description, on very orthodox Freudian lines, of normal mental mechanisms in child development. Condensed as this is into a space of 62 pages, it of necessity contains a number of dogmatic statements which, though acceptable to the psychiatrically trained, may well be strongly resisted by the elementary student. On the whole, however, the reasons and explanations are adequately and clearly given. It is the second part of the book which is the least convincing and satisfactory. This section deals with the failure of social adaptation and contains much of the case material described. It is here that the difficulties of simplification and brevity show themselves; because so much has to be omitted, some of the case material does not read convincingly and the inexperienced reader for whom the book is meant may be left wondering if the obvious conscious motivation may not be more correct than the true motivation brought to light by analysis. Of special interest in this section is Dr. Friedlander's insistence on the close relationship of, and narrow borderlines between.