Book Reviews : Violence Edited by Norman Tutt HMSO. £3.15
| Published date | 01 September 1976 |
| Date | 01 September 1976 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455057602300315 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
95
BOOK REVIEWS
Helping
Troubled
Children
Michael
Rutter
Penguin
Books,
£1.00
Professor
Rutter
is
a
leading
authority
on
Child
Psychiatry
and,
as
might
be
expected,
his
book
is
pri-
marily
a
guide
to
the
diagnosis
and
treatment
of
acutely
disturbed
children.
However,
its
value
to
the
non-specialist
social
worker
or
proba-
tion
officer
lies
in
his
clever
delinea-
tion
of
conditions
requiring
psychiatric
help,
as
distinct
from
those
which
are
normal
reactions
to
family
or
environ-
mental
stresses.
He
deals
fully
with
emotional
and
conduct
disorders
(which
he
sees
as
separate
categories)
as
well
as
explaining
the
signs
of
more
crippling
conditions
such
as
autism
and
schizophrenia.
The
author
is
refreshingly
free
from
the
dogmatism
of
any
psychological
&dquo;school&dquo;.
His
emphasis
is
on
a
prag-
matic,
common-sense
approach
based
on
the
fullest
possible
appraisal
of
the
circumstances
of
each
individual
child.
He
dislikes
simple
solutions
to
particu-
lar
difficulties,
e.g.
he
lucidly
explains
in
two
closely
reasoned
paragraphs
why
he
doubts
the
value
of
the
term
&dquo;dyslexia&dquo;,
and
why
he
thinks
read-
ing
difficulties
usually
have
multiple
causation.
’
The.
book
contains,
in
the
section
dealing
with
treatment,
a
clear
and
succinct
explanation
of
the
essential
differences
between
psychotherapy,
casework
and
behaviour
therapy.
Although
we
as
probation
officers,
may
seldom
be
involved
in
psycho-
therapy
(i.e.
as
part
of
a
psychiatric
&dquo;team&dquo;)
it
is
useful
and
helpful
to
be
reminded
of
the
proper
scope
of
our
role
as
caseworkers.
Prof
Rutter’s
observations
are
tied
in
throughout
to
recently
published
books
and
papers
(including
a
number
of
his
own).
and
there
is
a
list
of
over
200
of
these
at
the
end.
To
any
probation
officer
whose
work
involves
contact
with
children,
this
book
can
be
unreservedly
recom-
m~nded.
-
JBC
Intermediate
Treatment
HMSO,
£1.55
Seven
years
after
the
1969
Act,
IT
has
only
got
off
the
ground
in
a
very
few
areas.
And
the
-cuts
in
public
ex-
penditure
could
kill
it
off
once
and
for
all.
That
would
be
a
great
pity,
for
IT
has
as
much
potential
for
juveniles
as
community
service
has
proved
it
possesses
for
adult
offenders.
This
doc-
ument
published
by
DHSS
is
a
full
account
of
a
residential
conference
held
in
Birmingham
during
December
1974.
As
an
authoritative
and
up-to-
date
compendium
of
conceptual
and
practical
information
about
IT
it
is
highly
recommended
to
all
concerned
with
juvenile
offenders.
DAM
Violence
Edited
by
Norman
Tutt
HMSO.
£3.15
This
is
a
publication
from
the
De-
velopment
Group-social
Work
Ser-
vice
of
the
DHSS.
Contributors
from
various
disciplines
bring
their
own
ex-
pertise
and
opinion
to
bear
upon
a
problem
which
has
been,
in
varying
forms,
much
more
endemic
in
our
traditional
social
structures
than
cur-
rent
media
coverage
suggests.
The
his-
torical
background
is
examined
and
altogether
this
is
a
full,
if
not
exhaus-
tive
study
of
a
fascinating
and
hor-
rific
social
and
inter-personal
problem.
There
are,
inevitably,
political
over-
tones,
and
on
occasion
the
intrusion
of
what
appears
to
be
sectarian
bias
but
in
the
main
this
is
a
useful
work
of
reference
and
the
chapter
on
socio-
drama,
by
Tom
Douglas,
is
particu-
larly
informative.
In
the
end,
however,
the
reader
is
left
with
the
question
of
why,
since
there
are
so
many
answers
and
so
few
seeming
solutions.
Perhaps
the
dilemma
is
posed,
with-
out
being
resolved,
in
the
final
para-
graph
of
the
book
when
the
little
girl
writes
&dquo;I
do
not
come
from
a
pig-sty,
I
come
from
my
mother’s
vagina&dquo;.
That
goes
back
further
than
some
intellectual
appreciation
but
in
the
naviety
of
its
earth
bound
wisdom
suggests
a
need
to
search
for
clues
in
a
much .older
observation.
&dquo;Ye
know
not
what
manner
of
men
ye
are&dquo;.
KLH
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