John McKenna, a graduate of Glasgow University and the University of Montreal, worked for some years in Scotland as a psychologist prior to his appointment as Research Fellow of the World Health Organisation. Most of his writings have consisted of research papers on mental health and he is the major co-author of the U.N.E.S.C.O. publication on trends of research in the seventies on socially disadvantaged, handicapped and behaviourally disabled persons in the U.S.S.R., U.S.A., Uruguay and Sweden. A member of the team which set up the first Child and Family Clinic in Ireland, he has taught Clinical Psychology in the National University of Ireland and in the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland for over thirty years.
Since retiring from most of his serious professional commitments he can give more time to creative work. This volume reflects some of his professional and extracurricular interests. He lives in Dublin with his wife Anne, next door to their only son and daughter-in-law, where they enjoy the company of four little grand-children.
