THE ANARCHY OF FEELING: Man's Struggle for Freedom and Security

A practicing psychologist in The Anarchy of Feeling gives battle to what he considers an evil embodiment of our times -- the revolt against reason in favor of instinctual man -- and argues forcibly for a return to the primacy of the intellect and the will. While acknowledging the contributions made by the modern psychotherapists and theoreticians, such as Freud, Darwin, William James, William McDougall, John B. Watson and John Dewey -- he sees them as instigators of the revolt against reason, the only control against the pervading forces of anarchy of feeling. Dr. Sohnoiders appeals for use of skillful psychotherapy of the type which is aimed at destroying the anarchy of feeling. Formidable as the title suggests it to be, the presentation is readable enough. The author's use of case histories makes it clear even though the reconstruction of the interviews sometimes sounds a bit contrived to fit the situation. The professional reference to these case histories as ""clients"" seems unfortunate. Even so, here is an esteemed psychologist's synthesis of his beliefs which might be taken as a ""primer"" on psychological counceling's basic factor. This he sees to be the increase of human freedom for the individual, necessary to reduce the anarchy of feeling and reestablish reason and canlty as the basis for human actions.