where economic and social conditions are adverse, as they are for thousands of human beings, all the problems of life are aggravated, trouble is induced where trouble might otherwise be avoided, and its treatment is rendered vastly more difficult. The present discussion holds it to be axiomatic that only as environment and the organization of society improve can men and women hope to reach their fullest self-expression.
In illustrating the principles of social case work, I have made frequent use of incidents and crises that have arisen in human lives. Names and other identifying details have been changed. I hope that these stories will not lead the reader to think that the helping of people out of trouble is an instant and easy process. It is difficult, a matter usually of months and years, with many failures. Even some of the experiences which here appear to be successes were later followed by disaster, for just as a man may recover from one disease only to succumb to another, so, too, an individual, after overcoming one difficulty, may be overwhelmed by the next, or, as not infrequently happens, he may suffer from nervous and mental instabilities that prevent any permanent solution of his problems. Again and again the
