From Booklist
Goodman begins by pointing out the differences in physician-patient relationships in cases of certain psychosomatic manifestations, depending on whether or not the physicians involved are psychiatrists. Doing this, he defines the major benefits that psychiatrists enjoy and the major problems they face. Goodman looks both theoretically and practically at hypochondria, somatization, and the extreme form of somatization known as Munchausen syndrome. The central part of the text consists of six case histories, half with good outcomes and half with bad. They not only give the flavor of psychiatric practice but also show that Goodman can tell stories on himself and is aware that human beings are found on both sides of the doctor's desk--a point some psychiatrists forget. These are not dry accounts, for Goodman relays his own thought processes as well as analyzes those of his patients, and he describes several unusual cases of Munchausen and Munchausen-by-proxy syndromes, a few of them hair-raising. A helpful list of sources ends this informative, thought-provoking book. William Beatty
