CONTENTS
| CHAPTER | PAGE | |
|---|---|---|
| I. | Introduction | [1] |
| PART I | ||
| THE PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY | ||
| II. | The Aim of Psychology | [9] |
| III. | Mind and Brain | [27] |
| IV. | Psychology and Medicine | [55] |
| V. | Suggestion and Hypnotism | [85] |
| VI. | The Psychology of the Subconscious | [125] |
| PART II | ||
| THE PRACTICAL WORK OF PSYCHOTHERAPY | ||
| VII. | The Field of Psychotherapy | [158] |
| VIII. | The General Methods of Psychotherapy | [184] |
| IX. | The Special Methods of Psychotherapy | [212] |
| X. | The Mental Symptoms | [239] |
| XI. | The Bodily Symptoms | [297] |
| PART III | ||
| THE PLACE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY | ||
| XII. | Psychotherapy and the Church | [319] |
| XIII. | Psychotherapy and the Physician | [347] |
| XIV. | Psychotherapy and the Community | [370] |
I
INTRODUCTION[Contents]
Psychotherapy is the practice of treating the sick by influencing the mental life. It stands at the side of physicotherapy, which attempts to cure the sick by influencing the body, perhaps with drugs and medicines, or with electricity or baths or diet.
Psychotherapy is sharply to be separated from psychiatry, the treatment of mental diseases. Of course to a certain degree, mental illness too, is open to mental treatment; but certainly many diseases of the mind lie entirely beyond the reach of psychotherapy, and on the other hand psychotherapy may be applied also to diseases which are not mental at all. That which binds all psychotherapeutic efforts together into unity is the method of treatment. The psychotherapist must always somehow set levers of the mind in motion and work through them towards the removal of the sufferer's ailment; but the disturbances to be treated may show the greatest possible variety and may belong to mind or body.
Treatment of diseases by influence on the mind is as old as human history, but it has attained at various times very different degrees of importance. There is no lack of evidence that we have entered into a period in which an especial emphasis will be laid on the too long neglected psychical factor. This new movement is probably only in its beginning and the loudness with which it presents itself to-day is one of the many indications of its immaturity. Whether it will be a blessing or a danger, whether it will really lead forward in a lasting way, or whether it will soon demand a reaction, will probably depend in the first place on the soberness and thoroughness of the discussion. If the movement is carried on under the control of science, it may yield lasting results. If it keeps the features of dilettanteism and prefers association with the antiscientific tendencies, it is pre-destined to have a spasmodic character and ultimately to be harmful.