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At the time of psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim’s death, he was seen as a
remarkable healer who had cured hundreds of autistic children. Books he had
written, such as The Children of the Dream and The Uses of Enchantment, were
hailed as masterpieces. Then came the accusations. Bettelheim had been violent.
He beat the children in his care. He kept people away from his Orthogenic school
because he did not want anyone to reveal his cruelties. Author Nina Sutton found
it hard to accept this view of Bettelheim. Her painstaking book, Bruno
Bettelheim: The Other Side of Madness (Duckworth, £25, ISBN 0 7156 2687
6), shows what a complex man he was—neither saint nor total sinner. As
happens all too often, people concealed his abuses for a long time and, while
some children were healed, many were badly treated. Worth reading.