New York: The Viking Press. Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. 1963. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Light rubbing to cover corners and spine ends. Former owner's info penned on the front paste down. Binding remains sound and the text is unmarked. The jacket is rubbed at all edges and folds with heavy creasing and a small amount of loss along the top of the spine. ; A form letter on Menninger Foundation letterhead dated June 1, 1964 is laid in; it is addressed to Fellow Member and has a facsimile of Dr. Karl Menninger's signature. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 531 pages .

Reviews

On Jun 4 2007, Learningaramaic said:

This wise book-- by one of the greatest psychodynamicly-oriented psychiatrists of the 20th century-- explores human psychosocial function as a "total system" years before Bertalanffy and the General Systems people made its approach into a rigorous discipline in mental health.

Simply put, what Dr. Menninger calls the "vital balance" is equivalent to the human potential for homeostasis in the psychic and social areas. There is nothing mystical or superstitious about this notion, albeit is is holistic and not reductionist.

What is not well-appreciated is that-- given enough inputs/outputs-- the "steady state" of the vital balance Menninger discusses can be described mathematically. BUT FEAR NOT ON THIS NOTICE! NOT A SINGLE MATH FORMULA APPEARS IN MENNINGER'S BOOK HERE, DESPITE THIS COMPLETE COMPLEMENTARITY IN HARD-SYSTEMS TERMINOLOGY.

THE VITAL BALANCE was pressed in 1963; while it was reprinted several times, I understand it can be obtained only in used-bookstores. Pity! This work was well-ahead-of-its-time upon pressing, and I consider it to be CUTTING-EDGE PSYCHIATRY unto this day. This work was the most-consistent and most-rigorous contribution by "Dr. Karl," as he is known at the Menninger Clinic-- is well-crafted theory fit for the family-systems practitioners, the quantifiers, and all in mental health who seek a comprehensive framework within which one can cast the PROCESS OF GETTING WELL PSYCHOLOGICALLY.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens, M.S.S.W.

D.S.M. IV # 350

F31.2

10:49 p.m. -- Monday, June 4, 2007

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Details

Bookseller: Oddfellow's Fine Books and Col (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #: 8314
Title: The Vital Balance
Author: Menninger, Karl
Format/Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used - Very Good+ in Good+ dust jacket
Edition: First Edition; First Printing
Publisher: The Viking Press
Place of Publication: New York
Date Published: 1963

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Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Rubbing: Abrasion or wear to the surface. Usually used in reference to a book's boards or dust-jacket.
Jacket: Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...
Spine: The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Good+: A term used to denote a condition a slight grade better than Good.
Facsimile: An exact copy of an original work. In books, it refers to a copy or reproduction, as accurate as possible, of an original...
Edges: The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...