Foundations of Embryology

this book presents a well-balanced description of the psychiatric team at work. The author has succeeded in describing the many considerations that are necessary for family diagnosis and treatment which are involved in psychiatric work with children. In a humble, critical manner Dr. Lippman distills his many years of clinical experience into principles and attitudes that are practical lessons for those working in a child guidance clinic. In the first section, "Approaching Therapy," the reader will find a clear description of how the family brings the child for help, and the various avenues available to the psychiatric team to involve the parents in the child's therapy and to introduce the child to his need for treatment. The psychiatric team consists of the psychiatrist, social worker, and clinical psychologist. Dr. Lippman gives deserved credit to the ordinary devoted mother. However, there are several instances where he uses the concept of the rejecting mother, at the same time as he agrees with Anna Freud that this concept is unrealistic and that it can hinder a fruitful treatment plan. In the next four sections the reader is provided with a diagnostic classification that is based more on the description of the patient's problems and the indicated treatment than on etiology. However, the careful blending of theoretical and clinical considerations are used by the author to demonstrate that multiple factors have to be considered in etiology. The author expresses the idea that emotional tension and conflict produce pathological states. He would have been clearer if he had pointed out that tension and conflict are as necessary for health as for illness. How the individual copes with these states determines whether the outcome is adaptive or maladaptive. Among the most valuable and richly rewarding sections of this book are those which describe the social worker's role with disorganized families, the considerations involved in recommending against treatment for the child, the assessment of the physical, psychological, and social factors in a particular child and his family, and the sections in which the role of foster parents and residential treatment centers are described. The many interesting clinical vignettes are illustrative of Dr. Lippman's approach, and they reflect the rich clinical background of this significant book.