Abstract
Like so very many examples of psycho-analytic writing, this work is almost purely speculative and the author allows himself to be carried away by theorising, seeing and believing what he wishes to see and believe. His main theory is that the trauma of birth is the most deeply repressed portion of the mind. Anxiety and other symptoms are attributed to this birth trauma. From a therapeutic point of view, experience with schizophrenics leads one to be very sceptical of analysis as a procedure of any value.
The Trauma of Birth.
Otto Rank. (International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method.) Pp. xv + 224. (London: Kegan Paul and Co., Ltd.; New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1929.) 10s. 6d. net.
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The Trauma of Birth . Nature 126, 273 (1930). https://doi.org/10.1038/126273d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/126273d0