A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 5 : $b Diseases of the nervous system
Science
A system of practical medicine. By American authors. Vol. 5 : $b Diseases of the nervous system
Medicine -- Practice
Where masturbation is simply an evidence of loss of self-control, it
is met best by constant watching, and gradually, as the mental state
improves, arranging the daily life so as to develop the feeling of
self-respect. Where it depends upon local paræsthesia, opium and
camphor and cold bathing are indicated.
Constipation is a troublesome symptom, especially in the states of
mental depression. When a full, laxative diet, cod-liver oil, and malt
do not correct it, small doses of laxatives given frequently act
better than the occasional use of purgatives.
There is a class of cases which are best treated by educating the
patients as one would educate a child.
In the general care of the insane it is the duty of the state to see
that they have all the rights of the citizen which are consistent with
their proper and safe treatment, including the benefits of property
and estate. There certainly should be in all countries, as in England,
officers whose duty it is to see that this is done. For a large number
of people with defective or diseased brains, who are now allowed to
wander about committing crimes and serving repeated sentences in
reformatories, houses of correction, and prisons, an enlightened
public policy would find the best, and in the end the cheapest,
treatment to consist in keeping them under supervision and control as
unsound members of society.
The more particular treatment of the insane differs in the various
mental diseases, varying as it necessarily must according to different
conditions. Its prevention is not an easy problem. Many of the
external causes of insanity seem inevitable in our complex
civilization: it would be impossible to widely regulate marriages,
even if we knew how; those people predisposed to insanity are usually
too self-confident and self-willed to receive advice; and moderation
in all things, healthful occupation, temperate habits, good digestion,
and, above all, out-of-door life, seem as much like a sarcasm if
suggested to many of the toilers as a waste of words if recommended to
the idle and luxurious, while the parents who have transmitted to
their children unstable or diseased brains generally impair what
chances they have in life by vicious training.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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