摘要：As a matter of principle one would want to welcome any and all new books dealing seriously with psychopathology. It matters little whether they all offer something really new; for, new things which are real discoveries in psychopathology, as in other branches of knowledge, are rather rare. Fischer contributes nothing new in his book, but he presents a good summary of traditional phenomenological psychiatry, which nowadays makes frequent eclectic references to Freud as a matter of course. It is an earnest book in which the author makes a laudable effort to present a terse synopsis-not more than that. If you know the field, more or less, you will be able to follow Fischer and refresh your memory about a number of things; but if you are not familiar with the field, your lack of familiarity will hardly be attenuated. It is rather unfortunate to find, for instance, that the definition of a neurosis is so diffuse, that the term Schizoid is not set in its proper perspective. Such terms as "unstable psychopath" do not clarify the issues in psychopathology, which is concerned with abnormal yet non-psychotic behavior.
