Customer Reviews

Fifty minute Hour

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I have been doing psychotherapy for years and always find it fascinating to see how childhood experiences lead to the development of problems. There are lots of books about the theories, but the actual cases always seem much more striking to me. This book is fun to read if you are interested in looking at these kind of connections. I wish there were more books about this, but the subject seems to be out of vogue these days although people still have as many psychogenic problems as ever. I don't particularly like the books that make case material like this too artistic and flowery; this book describes the characters to the point. The examples part of "The Road Less Traveled" was also good in the same way.

This book was the culmination of the phenomenon of the "writing psychotherapist," when Freudian psychoanalysis was still at the height of its popularity and psychoanalysts were regarded as intrepid explorers of inner space with prestige virtually on a par with rocket scientists and physicists. Many of the analyst-writers who were popular during this period have long since been forgotten, such as H.A. Overstreet, and his book, The Great Enterprise, but Lindner's has become an enduring classic of the field. No doubt most of that relates to his choice of fascinating cases to detail, such as one about the brilliant physicist who concocted an entire science-fictional world which he inhabited in the chapter, "The Jet-Propelled Couch," and which enthralled readers of the book. The book likely would not have nearly the same impact today, but Freud's popularity had not yet waned, and was helped out by dramatic movies with superstar casts, such as Gregory Peck's 1965 movie, Mirage, and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, in which Freudian analysts were portrayed as heroes engaged in life and death battles with the dark forces of the unconscious. Overall still a classic in the field, and Lindner's fascinating and dramatic accounts of these cases still make for interesting reading.

I highly recommend this book. The author tells about his most interesting patients and how he treated them. He takes you through each case as he is going through it, which I find facinating. He even acknowledges his fears and anxieties. I read this book years ago and still remember it fondly. I am anxious to read it again. I like the fact that the author writes as if he is an old friend telling you a series of mesmerizing stories. He also writes without a superiority complex, which I find refreshing.

This book is particularly interesting in light of Gene Brewer's novel (and now film) "K-PAX", based on "The Jet-Propelled Couch" episode in this book. In this episode, we meet the original model for prot -- not a homeless person, but a respected scientist. Conjecture has it that he may have been science fiction writer Cordwainer Smith. In any event the story is fascinating, and Lindner writes in a clear, mature and intelligent style. Well worth it!

I read the "The Fifty Minute Hour" in the 1960's and was particularly impressed by the chapter "The Jet Propelled Couch." In the mid 1990's I was telling my teenage daughter about the chapter and we went out and bought the book to see if dad remembered correctly. I did and she enjoyed the book as much as I did. It is a classic. I believe the scientist in "The Jet Propelled Couch" was at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The "Fifty Minute" comes from Freud. He advised therapists to reserve ten minutes to cool down after a session with a patient and to prepare for the next patient. In this post-Freudian era patients are seen back-to-back and the hour is fifty minutes to increase revenue, not to cool down. In fact the hour is now down to 40 minutes and even 30 with some doctors!

Unfortunately Lindner's next book "Prescription for Rebellion" as I remember was a dud. Really disappointing let down after the FMH.

This is a great book for anyone interested in psychoanalysis, or just the human condition. The film Pressure Point with S. Poitier was based one of the case studies in this book. Solitaire, Laura's Story, is an early account of bulimia nervosa, which was not even a diagnosis given in those days. One thing to note, however....Rebel without a Cause, another book by Lindler, is about an antisocial young man....However, it was not the basis of the James Dean movie, as one reviewer wrote.

Sorry to disappoint potential readers, but Lindner's "The Fifty-Minute Hour" was NOT a source for the James Dean film, "Rebel Without a Cause," in any way. Robert Lindner's earlier book, titled "Rebel Without a Cause," a book-length study of a "criminal psychopath," was not a source for the film either, except that the producers paid Lindner for their use of the title. Nonetheless, "The Fifty-Minute Hour" remains one of the most fascinating collections of psychological case histories written for a general audience--especially the final case history, "The Jet-Propelled Couch," especially recommended to any science fiction fan.

The salutary lesson in this book is that *no one* is impervious to psychological/psychiatric problems. All it takes is the right conditions. Ask Robert Lindner, himself!!

This fine book deserves to be in print at all times.

This book CREATED the whole genre of psychotherapists writing about their patients. Prior to this, there were a few case studies, dryly written in academic form, in scholarly journals. Linder managed to bring patients to life, and grandly dramatized the struggles faced by the unique personalities he focuses on herein. Perhaps even better, he boldly evokes the almost life-and-death struggle/dance that is the psychotherapy hour. He articulates the thoughts and feelings that a psychotherapist undergoes when with a patient, and gives voice to the intra-psychic struggles that are the reality of people with psychopathology. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who is in or is considering psychotherapy, and especially to anyone who is, or is considering becoming, a psychotherapist. The work described herein is not an everyday occurrence, of course, but it happens often enough to give the reader a sense of what happens behind closed doors of good psychotherapy.

I have read this book many times since I first encountered it over 20 years ago. Dr. Lindner, sadly deceased too young, bravely recounts his treatment of five extraordinary individuals. He was a psychologist and applied psychoanalytic technique along with tremendous intuition and empathy to the treatment of the sort of people that might be considered untreatable. He gave them time to heal, and mostly they did. This book, this man, is an inspiration to me (I am a psychiatrist). He demonstrates kindness, patience, rigorousness, the ability to surmount prejudice and a willingness to go to the ends of the earth to help a patient. He is not perfect and they did not all get better, but what a great book for someone embarking on the impossible profession of psychotherapy.