A Home for the Heart Author:Bruno Bettleheim From 1944 until 1973, Bruno Bettelheim directed a home for emotionally fisturbed children, the Orthogenic School at the University of Chicago. He wrote much about his work there, but in A Home for the Heart, he lays out his personal and comprehsnive view of how such an instituion can best be run, and why. Theory and practice, speculation and cas... more »e histories mingle in this absorbing and moving book, as Bettelehim touches on everything form his own motives for becoming a child psychocologist to incidents of daily life at the school.
The reader enters the world of the school, where there are no bars on the windows and no locks on the doors. Bettelheim discusses in fascinating detail such seemingly small but crucial matters as the decor for the school (color, furniture, and space are all carefully designed for the overriding purpose of healing); the toys and art objects un the room where newcomers first arrive; the community and privacy provided each patient. He describes the training and inteaction of staff members and their total involvement with patients. A Home for the Heart moves beyond its immediate subject to illuminate an even more universal concern - the way people live and work together.« less