The Obsessed Patient
A patient who is suffering from obsessions must carry out certain
abnormal actions, or be wretched. She cannot do otherwise. It is as
though she were forced by some outside agent, though the forcing is
actually from within. When the nurse realizes this, and the more
essential fact--that many patients, who have not true obsessions, yet
have a tendency toward obsessed ways of thinking and doing--when she
comprehends it almost as she would if she were the victim, then she is
ready to help the patient by gently making the action impossible, and at
the same time diverting attention.
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Psychology And Health
In the use of its functions the mind manifests certain powers and certain modes of expression which can act as powerful allies or as damaging enemies of health. We speak of man as adaptable, but also as a being of habits. We speak of him as "feeli... Reaction Proportioned To Stimuli
In the normal mind the emotional or feeling accompaniment of thought and action is proportionate and adequate to the circumstances, i. e., there is a certain feeling, of a certain strength, natural to every thought and act; and when only that streng... Relation Of Mind And Body
We have found that mind is entirely dependent upon the bodily organs for its existence. Is the body in the same way dependent upon the mind? Can the mind die and the body go on? Given a perfect body with unblocked sense channels, and put the min... Self-correction
Accuracy in work, a primary essential to the nurse, can become automatic if she will demand of herself accuracy of perception, and concentrate on learning and doing until details almost take care of themselves; if she will correct her own work by th... Self-training In Memory
Hand in hand with clear thinking goes reliable memory. But so many of us have it not, and feel its need so strongly that we shall consider for a moment some means of training it. William James holds that brain-paths cannot be deepened; that memory... The Attention Of Interest
Attention naturally follows interest. It can, however, be held by will to the unappealing, with the usual result of transforming it into a thing of interest. One of the laws of the mind we have already stressed is that what we attend to largely d... The Attention Of Reason And Will
So the good nurse will not consider her work done when she has diverted mental processes into channels of co-operation. When the patient, who is capable of reasoning, knows the why of his treatment, and realizes that he can only keep well as he hims... The Beginning Of Reason
We found feeling by far the strongest factor in producing action in babyhood and childhood. Our instinctive doing, we learned, is the result of a race impulse. Will acts chiefly at emotion's bidding. But very early the baby's experience operates as ... The Central And Peripheral Nervous Systems In Action
I am passing the open door of a bake-shop, and a pervading odor fills the air. I think "hot rolls," because my organ of smell--the nose--has received a stimulus which it transmits along my olfactory nerves to the brain; and there the odor is given a... The Cerebrum Or Forebrain
For convenience the various lobes of the cerebrum are known as frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital, according to the parts of the brain referred to: as forehead, temples, crown, or occiput. The cerebellum, or hind brain, is also divided into ... The Deluded Patient
If the patient's mind is temporarily clouded through infection or suffering, he may be reacting to a delusion, an obsession, a fixed idea of disability, a terrifying fear. Sometimes he persistently refuses food, and gives no reason for it. The unthi... The Mind A Prey To False Associations
Sometimes a nurse reminds a patient of some one in the past who has complicated her life in an unhappy way, so she distrusts or dreads her or is made constantly uncomfortable in her presence. In such a case, if the nurse reports her patient as resis... The Normal Mind
Mind, we found, is born in the form of consciousness when the outside world impresses itself upon the brain-cells by way of the senses. This consciousness, observation and experiment prove, is first a feeling one, later a feeling-thinking-willing ... The Normal Mind
The normal mind reasons clearly with the best data at hand to results that will stand the test of conformity to reality; the normal mind uses reason and feeling, guided by reasonable attitude; in the normal mind reason advises action and will brings... The Normal Mind Instinct
We have found that the mind's chief end is action, of itself, or of its body. But what are its incentives to action? We see the very young baby giving evidences of an emotional life, living in an affective, or feeling environment, leading a pleasu... The Nurse Of The Future
The student of life and of the sciences which deal with the origin and development of the human race, and with the relations of man to man and nation to nation--such sciences as biology and anthropology, sociology and ethics and history--comes to ... The Nurse Of The Future
The nurse of the future will not be merely a handmaiden to care for the sick body by deftly carrying out the doctor's orders. She will do this almost automatically as a matter of course, and skilfully; but it will be the merest beginning of her miss... The Obsessed Patient
A patient who is suffering from obsessions must carry out certain abnormal actions, or be wretched. She cannot do otherwise. It is as though she were forced by some outside agent, though the forcing is actually from within. When the nurse realizes t... The Place Of Emotion
Feeling Cannot Be Separated from Thinking.--Emotion we found the constant accompaniment of every other mental activity. It is first on the stage of consciousness and, in the normal mind, last to withdraw. When I am working at a problem in doses or... The Power Of Suggestion
One almost universal condition found in illness is hypersuggestability. Here is the nurse's despair and her hope. Suggestion may come from without or from within. When from within, we call it autosuggestion. Many of the sick are temporarily resti... The Psychology Of The Nurse
The mind can be as definitely developed and strengthened as the body. The man who has suffered for years an organic disease will never have the same force as he who has never been seriously ill; but his constitution can be built up and made as eff... The Saving Power Of Will
It is not uncommon to hear a doctor say, "Nothing but his will pulled him through that time." It does not mean quite what it says, for the patient's will would have been helpless to cure him without the medicine and the treatment. But it does mean t... The Sympathetic Nervous System
Associated with the central nervous system by connecting nerves--but located outside of it in various parts of the body--are groups of nerve-cells (gray matter) and their fibers, forming what we call the sympathetic nervous system--the direct connec... The Unconscious
But the mind of man knows two distinct conditions of activity--the conscious and the unconscious. Mind is not always wide awake. We recognize what we call the conscious mind as the ruling force in our lives. But how many things I do without consciou... Training Perception
The nurse who demands of herself that she perceive accurately paves the way for accurate, deft service in her profession. There are constant means at hand for training in the art. Suppose you try to get so definite a picture of each ward or room you... Training The Will
There is no better opportunity for will-training than the hospital affords the nurse. The constant necessity of acting against desire, of doing tasks which in themselves cannot be agreeable, calls for a developed will, while it gives it constant exe... Variations From Normal Mental Processes (continued)
Hyperesthesia is abnormal sensitiveness to stimulation. Anesthesia is loss, either temporary or permanent, of any of the senses. Perversion is morbid alteration of function which may occur in emotional, intellectual, or volitional fields. ... What Determines The Point Of View
The point of view of any individual depends upon temperament, present conditions--mental and physical--and the aim of the life. That is, it depends upon his inherited tendencies plus a unique personal something, plus all the facts of his environment... What Is Psychology?
Wise men study the sciences which deal with the origins and development of animal life, with the structure of the cells, with the effect of various diseases upon the tissues and fluids of the body; they study the causes of the reactions of the bod...