Impulsive Neuroses and Crime: A Critical Review

Is there a human problem or a field of endeavor to which the medical man may not be called upon for help and guidance? It would seem to be the fate of medicine in general and that of psychiatry in particular to contribute to quarters far and distant solutions of problems that apparently have but little relation to medicine. The understanding of the mechanisms underlying certain types of anti-social reactions, especially as referring to criminal conduct, forms a chapter of appalling complexity and confusion in the psychopathology of human behavior. Now that after centuries of effort, the jurists and the sociologists are obliged to give up the task of solving the problem of crime, the physician steps in and shows what direct and intimate relationship there exists between crime and disease. It is, therefore, most refreshing to come across a work which gives one such an illuminating insight into the nature of this type of behavior.