606 BOOK REVIEWS

To conclude, this welcome text does a first-class job of identifying many of the psychological problems that may arise in association with gynaecological difficulties. It is not a definitive text on the subject, nor is it possible to write such a book at this early stage. When the time comes for a comprehensive and detailed account of the subject, we will all be in debt to the editors for having marked out the boundaries of this newly established subject of study. Similar books are required on a range of other medical specialities.

S. RACHMAN

H. BELOFF: Camera Culture. Basil Blackwell, Oxford (1985). Pages vi + 262. f 14.95.

Halla Beloff has presented us with a thought-provoking study of the mysterious medium of photography. The main part of the book describes the historical stages of development in the image-making process and, with some excellent illustrations to the text throughout, we are led into a discussion of the power of the photographic image from the aspect of the viewer and the image maker. In this way we see how the many features of the so-called ‘truthful’ medium of photography have been absorbed into our daily lives.

Images can verify and affirm our institutions, politics and roles in life. The photographs for our family albums take on an altered significance when we realize all the social rules that have been at play. The images have been scrutinized and carefully edited by us before they are mounted in the albums to present a ritualized image of our family (‘smile please’) history. The rites of passage and landmarks are carefully represented (i.e. birth, marriage, holidays). In recent history death had a place in these records although nowadays this is presumably distasteful and out of vogue. The discussion of the psychological background affecting our social conventions and the choice of images that we make is most revealing.

A great deal of thought is also given to the professional photographer and the means by which images are made public. The thoughts and tribulations of many of our most representative image makers in the twentieth century are considered with a sensitive understanding of this characterful breed. This public aspect of photography with many references to works of photographic criticism provides the skeleton for the author’s treatise on unravelling the complexities found behind the mask of our image-drenched society.

The book ranges widely, including the present seminal trends of anti-art, auto-photo and the photograph or the multiple photograph as the end product of transient art events, together with considerable insight in the comments on the history of the portrait.

Beloff also stresses the great importance of including photography in the collection of data for sociological surveys, architectural planning, urban development and behaviour studies providing that understanding of the contract between the photographer/researcher and the other participants of the study makes a valid photographic record. Having recognized that this honest and informed approach to taking photographs can often negate the truthfulness and immediacy of the image, she raises again the historical and still present ethical question of consent to ‘the right photographic moment’. Imagine the resulting pictures if Cartier Bresson, Lartigue or Don McCullin asked their subjects to go back and do that again, or if Diane Arbus had communicated her intent to her sitters!

This book is excellent reading for anyone interested in photography and the visual experience. It can be read in its entirety or browsed at leisure to appreciate the photographs which support and enhance the text.

JUDY PARSONS

V. RIPPERE and R. WILLIAMS (Eds): Wounded Healers: Mental Health Workers’ Experiences of Depression. Wiley, Chichester, Sussex (1985). Pages xvi + 192. f14.95 (Hardback); f5.95 (Paperback).

Books such as this are rare. In this volume, several mental-health workers describe their personal experiences of depression. There are 19 chapters plus a ‘I-page Introduction by the editors. The chapters come under six sections: (I) Trouble at Work; (II) Arrivals and Departures; (III) Women and Depression; (IV) Living with Depression; (V) Depression in Retrospect; and (VI) Depression-No Way Out? The contributions are quite informative, and generally very readable. The most important contribution that they make, in my view, is the light they throw on the phenomenology of depression. What is it like to be depressed? What are the main symptoms, as experienced by the sufferer? How do these affect one’s functioning? One’s knowledge and understanding of these and related questions are enhanced by what is found in these accounts. Also, the lay-patient, or ex-patient, reading these accounts will be reassured that the experience of depression can come even to professional mental-health workers (to whom, as a group, one turns for help) and that they-or many of them, at any rate-have survived and returned to their work without any adverse effect.

There are, however, two criticisms that must be made. The authorship of the chapters is shrouded in mystery. One Sees entries such as “By a Clinical Psychologist” and “By a Psychotherapist”. What is the need for this half-way identification? One can understand an author’s reluctance to publicly state that he has had a depressive illness, for various reasons. But to identify the authors in the way done here makes no sense: To add to the mystery, there is a list of contributors, some in pseudonym and others in their own names. Why this list at all? I think the editors have got into a big muddle here. They explain the “veil of mystery” (p. 7) as aimed at protecting the authors’ privacy etc. (which is understandable), and at making it easier for the reader to read the accounts without distraction. If the latter aim was a serious one, then the half-way identifications (such as “By a Clinical Psychologist”) prevents this aim from being achieved. The editors say, “It is better that each account should be read for its own sake rather than as a whodunnit” (p. 7). Unfortunately, their decision