THE LONDON LETTER

Animals subjected to seemingly insoluble conflicts of motivation and difficulties of adaptation develop persistent “neuroses” or “psychoses” characterized by dramatic manifestations of anxiety, phobias, compulsions, and “dereism”. Of all techniques of therapy investigated, the following were found to be variously effective in alleviating the disordered behaviour: (1) rest and change of milieu, (2) diminution of motivational stress, (3) spontaneous re-exploration, (4) forced solution of the conflict, (5) association with “normal” animals, (6) guided retraining and individualized re-experience, (7) drugs such as alcohol or the barbiturates that blunted or dissociated traumatic experiences, (8) cerebral electroshock, and (9) certain cerebral operations. Predictably, various combinations of these procedures were differently effective, depending on both the “constitution” and life experiences of the animal. The significance of these observations with regard to the biodynamics of clinical psychiatric treatment are discussed as well as those modes of psychotherapy which are “uniquely” human.