Psychotherapy: Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease — John Shaqi
Psychotherapy: Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of DiseaseWalsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Science
Psychotherapy: Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease
Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)
Mental healing
in thinking of scolding me."
Morgagni.--In the century following Sydenham we have a number of
examples cited by Morgagni, the father of pathology, in which his
recognition of the value of the mind as a curative agent and of the
harm that may be done by over-occupation of the mind is set forth at
its proper value. Benjamin Ward Richardson in his "Disciples of
AEsculapius" [Footnote 2] tells of two incidents in which this phase
of Morgagni's very practical application of knowledge to medical
practice is exemplified:
[Footnote 2: London, 1901]
{17}
In other examples, where the symptoms are due to mental oppression,
he pursued a course of treatment that was of soothing nature. A
distinguished professor of physic at Bologna happened to discover
that his pulse was intermittent, and being extremely anxious about
it was incessantly feeling his pulse, to discover that the evil was
daily increasing. Morgagni's advice to his patient was to take his
finger off his wrist and not to inquire too anxiously about his
condition. The advice was followed, and the result was a complete
removal of the disturbance.
It is a very singular truth that in describing the action of the
nervous system on the circulation Morgagni shows that he was
cognizant of the fact that the circulation may be disturbed by two
sets of nervous irritations, one inflicted through the
pneumogastrics, the other "through those nerves which are
subservient to the arteries"--the vaso-motor system which is readily
disturbed by the mind. In one patient he observed great
perturbations of the pulse in both wrists as the result of mental
anxiety. But a day or two later the pulse derangement was confined
to the left side altogether. The pulse of the right arm was quite
regular, while that of the left arm still showed the inequality.
When the mental distress was relieved, this pulse also became equal.
Morgagni cites Sydenham's contemporary, Lancisi, the great Italian
physician, as recognizing the influence of the emotions on the heart.
Examples of similar convictions as to mental influence in medicine are
also found in the works of Morgagni's great contemporaries, Boerhaave
and Van Swieten, and the great physicians of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries were closely imitated in their recognition of the
value of the influence of mind over body in medicine by their
successors in the profession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account