Among the serious results of faulty mental habit must be included also
the doubting folly (_folie du doute_). The victim of this disorder is so
querulously anxious to make no mistake that he is forever returning to see
if he has turned out the gas, locked the door, and the like; in extreme
cases he finally doubts the actuality of his own sensations, and so far
succumbs to chronic indecision as seriously to handicap his efforts. This
condition has been aptly termed a "spasm of the attention."
The apprehensive and fretful may show, in varying degree, signs of either
or all these conditions, according as circumstances may direct their
attention.
Passing from serious disorders to minor sources of daily discomfort, there
are few individuals so mentally gifted that they are impervious to the
distress occasioned by variations of temperature and of weather; to the
annoyance caused by criticism, neglect, and lack of appreciation on the
part of their associates; to active resentment, even anger, upon moderate
provocation; to loss of temper when exhausted; to embarrassment in unusual
situations; to chronic indecision; to the sleeplessness resulting from
mental preoccupation; and above all, to the futile regrets, the querulous
doubts, and the undue anxiety included under the term _worry_, designated
by a recent author "the disease of the age."
Something may be accomplished in the way of lessening all these ills by
continuous, properly directed effort on the part of the individual. Every
inroad upon one faulty habit strengthens the attack upon all, and each gain
means a step toward the acquisition of a mental poise that shall give its
possessor comparative immunity from the petty annoyances of daily life.
In modern psycho-therapy the _suggestion_, whether on the part of the
physician or of the patient, plays a prominent part, and it is in this
direction, aside from the advice regarding occupation and relaxation, that
my propositions will trend. I shall not include, however, suggestions
depending for their efficacy upon self-deceit, such as might spring, for
example, from the proposition that if we think there is a fire in the stove
it warms us, or that if we break a pane in the bookcase thinking it
a window, we inhale with pleasure the resulting change of air. The
suggestions are intended to appeal to the reason, rather than to the
imagination.
The special aim will be to pay attention to the different varieties of
worry, and to offer easily understood and commonplace suggestions which any
one may practice daily and continuously, at last automatically, without
interfering with his routine work or recreation. Indeed the tranquil mind
aids, rather than hinders, efficient work, by enabling its possessor to
pass from duty to duty without the hindrance of undue solicitude.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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