The Neurosis in the Light of Rational Psychology by A. A. A. Terruwe, M. D.

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS 669 Two additional comments, based more on prudential then doctrinal grounds, may be advanced. Although Smith several times considers history , his analysis-in the light of the widespread acceptation of Dawson's views-appears too brief and understated. Finally, since each chapter underscores the necessity of including the subjects it treats in the liberal arts' curriculum, the cumulative effect is to choke the college with a mass of necessary subjects. The author should have applied the " principle of selection " he found valid for precollege education. " Subjects preparatory to all further knowledge should be emphasized at the expense of subjects that a student can handle on his own " (p. 146) . However, such purely practical points fall outside the aim and content of the school. These last Professor Smith has examined with his accustomed wisdom and clarity. Providence CoUege, Pru11idence, R.I. THOMAS CuNNINGHAM, O.P. The Neurosis in the Light of Rational Psychology. By A. A. A. TERRUWE, M.D., trans!. by CoNRAD W. BAARS, M.D. New York, P. J. Kenedy & Sons. 1960. Pp. xxii, ~00. Psychiatry and clinical psychology are not theoretical disciplines, although each presupposes and incorporates definite principles and assumptions which are essentially theoretical in character. Genuine progress in the sciences of mental and emotional health will not be made on the basis of a false epistemology or philosophy of human nature; more positively, the psychiatrist must recognize the need and value of a sound understanding of the nature of man, an understanding which rational psychology provides . Mortimer Adler has demonstrated with consummate skill the basically practical aim and import of psychiatry in general and psychoanalysis in particular. There remains a pressing need to isolate and evaluate the theoretical elements implicit in psychiatric practice, to provide both a critical check and an authentic guide to the therapeutic efforts of the professionals in this field. Dr. Terruwe is unusually well qualified to contribute significantly towards that ·integration of theory and practice which is a prime desideratum in psychiatric medicine. The author has for a number of years carried on a broadly diversified practice in the treatment of personality disorders. At a crucial point in her clinical training Dr. Terruwe became acquainted with Thomistic psychology and was able, under the direction of a renowned Dutch clinician, to discern in Thomistic doctrine insights and principles which she believed would aid greatly in the diagnosis and treatment 670 BOOK REVIEWS of neurotic and psychopathic disorders. This expectancy was fulfilled in remarkable fashion over a period of years, and the experience of success in actual practice has been translated into a reflective analysis of the disorders in question. In the present work, a remarkably complete and carefully documented theory of neurosis is worked up on the basis of this experience and in the light of Aristotelian-Thomistic doctrine of the passions . There are pitifully few studies of this kind, incorporating close and critical familiarity with both philosophy and medicine. The plan of Terruwe's book is of far greater interest and significance than even the results reported and conclusions reached-which are, in fact, important enough in themselves and excellently presented. Psychiatry is primarily and essentially a branch of medicine, but more than any other medical specialty it reveals strikingly the complete and complex nature of the human patient. Terruwe's work is notable above all in these three respects: 1) it recognizes the indispensable need of verifying and confirming a theory of mental and emotional disturbance through a number of clinical cases in which the theory's validity is thoroughly tested and rechecked ; 2) it brings to the fore, as an inescapable factor in a total explanation of neurosis, the role of reason, of the spiritual dimension in man, in constituting and preserving mental and emotional health; and 3) it offers an object-lesson in good, fruitful methodology, applying certain principles of intelligibility to the solution of vexing empirical problems. Psychiatry has attracted a number of Thomistic philosophers and theologians , increasingly so in the past decade or more. This interest and concern attest the willingness and even eagerness of Thomists to face contemporary intellectual and cultural developments, with a view to making contact between the profound and perennial wisdom of...