Australian Left Review
Article Title
Book Reviews: ALR 55-56
Abstract
THE FUTURE OF PSYCHIATRY, H.J. Eysenck, Methuen, 1975. H.J. Eysenck has long been the self-proclaimed voice o f pragmatic ‘commonsense’ in British psychology. His targets have been any viewpoint which is not consistent with his own “ scientific” , empirically-based, opinions, whether the issue happens to be hypnosis, psychoanalysis, race differences (?) in intelligence, or the attempt to analyse psychological or medical problems at the social or political levels. In The Future of Psychiatry Eysenck continues his attack on those who would dare to criticise the institutional and professional structure and practice of psychiatry on any grounds other than his own. The result is an oddly defensive and dogmatic series of assertions which bear very little logical relation to the general recommendations he wishes to make concerning how psychiatric training and practice might be re-directed.