by KENNETH GREEN Why Christians Crack Up by Marion 1-1. Nelson (Hodder and Stoughton 60p) Hardly anyone nowadays is completely immune from nervous disorders of one kind or another. The age is one of overwork and worry, noise. bright lights. boredom and loneliness, frustration and fatigue. The spectacle of Christians brought low by emotional disturbances can itself become a threat to one's own somewhat fragile stability, and one may well ask how it is that Christianity, with all its wisdom and dynamism, permits that Christians "crack up."
In a thoroughly sensible way, Dr Marion Nelson tackles the problem al its roots, We have, then, the expertise and experience of one who is a Christian, a doctor and a psychiatrist at our disposal in a very readable paperback.
This, as the author also hones, will be of great help to lay people. pastors, counsellors, physicians and psychiatrists faced with problems in themselves or in others.
Apart from the more severe congenital abnormalities, there are few conditions about which we can do nothing. hut first we have to understand. To enable us to do this, Dr Nelson draws amply from the Bible, medical knowledge and the specialised area of psychiatry. The results are as reassuring as they are enlightening.