Outwitting Our Nerves: A Primer of PsychotherapyJackson, Josephine A. (Josephine Agnes)
Science
Outwitting Our Nerves: A Primer of Psychotherapy
Jackson, Josephine A. (Josephine Agnes)
Nervous system -- Diseases; Psychoanalysis; Therapeutics, Suggestive
=Making Her Own Discoveries.= Then there was Miss B. who for four
years had been "exhausted." She had such severe pains in her legs that
she was almost helpless. If she sewed for half an hour on the sewing
machine, she would be in bed for two weeks. Although she was engaged
to be married, she could not possibly shop for her trousseau. Two
years before, a very able surgeon had been of the opinion that the
pain in the legs was caused by an ovarian tumor. He removed the tumor,
assuring the patient that she would be cured. However, despite the
operation and the force of the suggestion, the pains persisted.
After she had been with me for a few days, she sewed for an hour on
the machine. In a day or so she took a four-mile walk in a cañon near
the house and, on returning in the afternoon, walked two and a half
miles down town to do some shopping. I did not make an analysis in
her case because she recovered so quickly,--going home well within two
weeks. But she declared that she had found the cause while reading in
one of the books on psychology. I had my suspicions that the
long-drawn-out engagement had something to do with the trouble, but I
did not confirm my opinion. A long engagement, by continually
stimulating desire without satisfying it, only too often leads to
nervous illness.
=Afraid of Heat.= Professor X., of a large Eastern college, had been
incapacitated for four years with a severe fatigue neurosis and an
intense fear of heat. Constantly watching the weather reports, he was
in the habit of fleeing to the Maine coast whenever the
weather-prophet predicted warm weather. After a short reëducation, he
discovered that his fatigue was symbolic of an inner feeling of
inadequacy, and that it bore no relation to his body. Discarding his
weariness and throwing all his energies into the Liberty Loan
Campaign, he found himself speaking almost continuously throughout one
of the hottest days in the history of California, with the thermometer
standing at 107 degrees. After that he had no doubt as to his cure.
=In Bed from Fear.= Miss C. was carried into my house rolled in a
blanket. She had been confined to her bed except for fifteen minutes a
day, during which time she was able to lie in a hammock! It seems
that her illness was the result of fear, an over-reaction to early
teaching about self-abuse. Her mother had frightened her terribly by
giving her the false idea that this practice often leads to insanity.
Having indulged in self-abuse, she believed herself going insane, and
very naturally succumbed to the effects of such a fear. After a few
days of re-education, she was as strong as any average person. Having
no clothing but for a sick-room, she borrowed hat, skirt, and shoes,
and walked to church, a three-mile walk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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