Abstract

language rotates the prism oflanguage into a fixed dimension that permits leisured inspection and demonstration. Presented within the covers ofthis book are the examination, exploration, and detailed study of the source material as well as astepwise progression of textual analysis to conceptual con-of the study is twofold: 1) the immediate goal achieved is the demonstration of thematic content that can be identified and understood, a content hidden by anobscure, abstruse, overtly incomprehensible language pat-tent.tern, and 2) the essence of this study, and I assume it is intended, lies in the illustration ofa mode ofinquiry, a progression of observation, reasoning, and verifiable documentation, that introduces a new format to the study of mentalthis line gives out, we may return to the era of alchemy and magic.” This view exemplifies what Balint (1) suggested is the ‘ ‘apostolic view’ ‘ of the physician. Balint observed that physicians have a tendency to behave as if they were omnipotent healers with an implicit duty to convince patients of their absolute knowledge of what is right and wrong for them. The basis for this approach appears to be a confusion about the role of the medical model in psychiatry. A more constructive discussion