ABSTRACT
IN this book we are concerned with the problem of the diagnosis and the treatment of neurotics, as well as with the problem of the reasons why they develop their neurotic disorders. Problems of nosology, aetiology, and therapy may be approached along three different lines. The first of these we may call ‘notional’. By this is meant that the proposed solution is based on a notion or a hunch, that it has not received empirical verification, and that its propagation owes nothing to proof but much to persuasion and emotional appeal. Solutions of this type may be highly systematized and may often be susceptible to disproof only with the greatest difficulty. Phrenology, or the belief that character may be read from the bumps on a person's head, may be a good example of a notional theory in psychology. It hardly needs saying that notional solutions to problems are pre-scientific and of little practical importance, although very occassionally later research may be able to substantiate some of the hunches or notions underlying these approaches.
