Pseudo-science And Mental Healing
An interesting phase of psychotherapy is found in the history of the
applications of new scientific discoveries to medicine. The
development of every physical science has been followed by an attempt
to apply its new principles and discoveries to the treatment of
disease. Such applications have nearly always been followed by
excellent results at the beginning. But almost without exception, the
medical significance of th
found to be nil. When these discoveries were made they became the
center of public attention. The announcement of their application to
medicine then seemed natural and produced a feeling that another great
therapeutic principle had been discovered. Sometimes wonderful
therapeutic effects were noted. The chronic diseases particularly were
helped for some time, at least, and practically all the affections
that have mainly subjective symptoms were greatly relieved, or
actually cured. After a time, however, when the novelty of the
discovery wore off, its suggestive power was lessened and then the
remedy lost its therapeutic power.
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Nostrums And The Healing Power Of Suggestion
A striking illustration of the power of the mind to bring about the cure of ailments and symptoms of every sort is found in the history of the many nostrums and remedies that have worked wonders for a time and later proved to be inert or even harmfu... Nursing
The attitude of mind of a woman toward her milk supply is important, as the flow of milk is closely subject to mental influence. The presence of the child and the consequent exercise of maternal instinct does more to bring about the prompt, healthy ... Obesity
Obesity, popularly considered to be an over-accumulation of fat, is sometimes thought to exist only when there is the large development of abdomen which is more properly designated corpulency. In its strictly scientific sense it represents excessive... Occupation Muscle And Joint Pains
There is one variety of painful conditions of muscles and joints, often spoken of as muscular rheumatism or as chronic rheumatism and frequently the source of so much discomfort that patients feel that occupations must be given up, even at a great... Occupation Of Mind
Two classes of patients frequently apply to physicians for relief from various discomforts. They are, first, people who have no regular occupation and who often are in what is supposed to be the happy position of being able to do just what they pl... Old Injuries And So-called Rheumatism
As people advance in years, it is a common experience that tissues injured years before are the source of no little discomfort and are particularly prone to be bothersome during changeable seasons and in rainy weather. A bone broken when the patie... Pain
Pain, while always a dreaded symptom of disease, seems, with the increase of comfort and the gradual abolition that has come in our time of many of the trials of existence, to have had its terrors increased. Even a slight pain or ache is dreaded, an... Painful Arm And Trunk Conditions
Cervical Ribs.--Some interesting cases with painful conditions of the arms develop as a consequence of the presence of cervical ribs. It would be more or less naturally expected that trouble of this kind would occur early in life, but, as a matter... Painful Joint Conditions Pseudo-rheumatism
[Footnote 33: The position here taken, that acute articular rheumatism never leaves a mark after it, is entirely due to the observation that whenever cases were seen in which sequelae were noted, there always seems to the writer to be questi... Painful Knee Conditions
Most of the painful knee conditions of which patients complain are not directly due to true pathological conditions either of the knee joint itself or of its neighboring structures, but rather to affections of other portions of the leg that set a ... Paralysis Agitans
This is a chronic affection of the nervous system having for its most characteristic symptom a tremor, but with marked muscular rigidity and weakness. It is much more common in men than in women, in almost the reverse proportion of Graves' disease... Paresis
Paresis would seem to be one of the affections so inevitable in its course, so positively helpless as regards any medication, and so hopeless in its absolutely sure termination in idiocy and death, that nothing can possibly be done for it through ... Pathological Significance
Unconscious cerebration is not, then, a trivial matter, and not an unusual experience. It probably occurs in every individual to a much greater extent than he thinks, unless he is engaged in analyzing his mental processes and their ways rather caref... Periodical Depression
Fits of periodical depression, familiarly known as "the blues," occur in the experience of practically everyone. In some people they are only slight and passing. In others they last for hours and make the individual quite miserable. In still other... Physical Habits
Habit and Food.--Most of our likes and dislikes for food are neither physical nor physiological, but simply habitual. We have become accustomed to certain things, and so we like them. We are unaccustomed to them, and do not care for them. It is am... Position
There are many changes of position that relieve pain, lessen discomfort, aid in excretion, and in the evacuation of material from the body, yet it is often found that very little advantage is taken of this natural method of therapeutic aid. Traditio... Practice Of Hypnotism
In the ordinary practice of hypnotism now, the patient is placed sitting on a comfortable chair and the operator on one side facing prepares the mind of the subject by proper assurances. The patient must be brought into a thoroughly assured and comf... Pregnancy
Maintenance of Health.--Women must keep up their normal health and strength during pregnancy. By not taking sufficient exercise and by being too much indoors, many women develop a morbid mental state in which every discomfort is less bearable than... Preoccupation Of Mind
This is true, not only for ordinary sensations, but even for such as would ordinarily be presumed to be so insistent in their call that they could not be neglected. The concentration of mind necessary for this is not common to all mankind; it is pos... Present Day Methods Of Hypnotization
Though various methods of producing the hypnotic sleep are in use, the rule is now that, in the course of a hypnotizer's experience, less and less external auxiliaries of any kind are needed, and more and more dependence is placed on the bringing ab... Prevention And Correction
The important rule with regard to the mental attitude of the patient toward uncomfortable feelings due to digestion must be, first to correct all other possible sources of the trouble, and only after these have been proved not to be factors in the c... Prostatism
It may seem impossible to include prostatic hypertrophy, or the train of symptoms connected with it, among those affections likely to be benefited by mental treatment. The history of this affection, however, and especially of its treatment in rece... Pseudo-science And Mental Healing
An interesting phase of psychotherapy is found in the history of the applications of new scientific discoveries to medicine. The development of every physical science has been followed by an attempt to apply its new principles and discoveries to the... Psychic Contagion
The term psychic contagion is often thought of as merely figurative. It is, however, quite literal. Many minds are influenced by what they see happening round them and induced to imitate the activities of others. The term psychic contagion is so t... Psychic States In Menstruation
One does not need to be a physician to be familiar with the curious psychic states which develop or are accentuated during the menstrual period. Practically all the peculiarities of the individual are emphasized at this time and if there are any s... Psychic Treatment Of Digestive Conditions
If discouragement and solicitude make a healthy stomach digest imperfectly, the same mental factors will play an even more serious role with a diseased stomach. Certainly without the mind's aid, there can be little hope of such a reactive vital resi... Psycho-neuroses Hysteria
As the derivation of the name indicates, psycho-neuroses are functional nervous affections dependent on states of mind. They are not necessarily originated by the mind, though they may be. Their spontaneous occurrence as pure psychic phenomena, ho... Psychotherapy And Modern Medicine
Paracelsus.--Paracelsus, the great physician of the first half of the sixteenth century, who may well be considered the father of modern pharmaceutics, had no illusions with regard to the exclusive power of drugs over disease. He recognized that men... Psychotherapy And The Individual Patient
The most important element in Psychotherapy is the individual patient. Old Dr. Parry of Bath said a century ago, "It is much more important to know what sort of a patient has a disease, than what sort of a disease a patient has." Mental influence ... Psychotherapy At Rome
Galen.--Galen, whom we are prone to think of as a Latin because so much of his work was done at Rome, but whose works have come to us in Greek, and who was a disciple of the Greek school of medicine, brought up under Greek influence in his native to... Psychotherapy In Egypt
Among the Egyptians the first great development of medicine came among the priests. The two professions, the medical and priesthood, were one, and the temples were the hospitals of the time. We have stories of people traveling long distances to cert... Psychotherapy In Old-time Surgery
Surgery, a name derived from chirurgy--handwork--might seem to be dependent almost entirely on mechanical and technical skill, yet there has always been the conviction that the patient's attitude of mind towards an operation is almost as important... Psychotherapy In Skin Diseases
The place of mental influence in the treatment of skin diseases will be best realized from the role that we know the mind plays in the production of various skin manifestations. There is a whole series of skin affections which depend to a consider... Psychotherapy Of Organic Nervous Diseases
Since we know that the basis of many nervous diseases is an obliteration of certain cells of the brain or of the spinal cord, or certain tracts of the central nervous system through which impulses must pass if they are to be effective as motion, s... Quackery And Mind Cures
Not less interesting than the therapeutic results obtained by men who in good faith were using inert remedies that they thought effective, are the cures obtained by men who had good reason to know that the therapeutic methods they were using were qu... Radium And Radio-activity
When radium was discovered, though it came so soon after the discovery of the X-ray and our disappointment with it, the old story of another pseudo-scientific medical application was told. For a time it looked as though radium might accomplish all t... Remedial Measures
The most important general remedy for over-prolonged mental occupation with a single subject, is some outdoor sport or form of exercise that requires all the attention. Horseback exercise is particularly valuable; boating, especially where the man h... Remedies Plus Suggestion
Prof. Richet, the head of the department of physiology, University of Paris, quotes the expression of a French critic of medicine: "Hurry up and take the new remedy while it still cures. After a time it will lose its power." The power that is lost a... Responsibility And Will Power
The development of science (meaning by that term knowledge with regard to physical nature in contradistinction to philosophy or the relation of nature to man) in modern times has brought about in some minds a hesitant, if not frankly contradictor... Sciatica
Etiology.--What has been said of lumbago applies to a great extent also to sciatica. There are a number of different affections which have come to be grouped under the term sciatica. Here, much more frequently than in the lumbar region, the cause ... Secondary Personality
So much attention has recently been directed to the subject of secondary personality by the startling phenomena described in numerous books and articles on the subject, that a certain class of "nervous" patients have permitted themselves to be influ... Sexual Habits
As was emphasized in the preceding chapter, sexual symptoms are usually the subject of so much worry and disturbance of mind and become the center of so much unfavorable suggestion, that the only way to ameliorate the conditions which develop is b... Sexual Neuroses
Anything that disturbs the sexual sphere in either sex, no matter how trivial it may be, becomes a source of worry and depression quite beyond its real importance. It is not unusual for men and women to become so worried over some trifling affecti... Signatures And Psychotherapy
Similia similibus curantur, like is cured by like, is a very old idea. According to the doctrine of signatures nature had put an external natural marking or a symbolical appearance or characteristic upon a plant, mineral or other object, to indicate...