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 resistive, or fearful or cringing, or
distrustful, she is really misrepresenting her; for under another's care
that patient may show an entirely opposite reaction.
environment and habit of thought, which would give the explanation of
many things in her patient's attitude. Nor can she realize just what
shade of meaning certain phrases and words have for her charge. To the
nervously overwrought person the most innocent reference--father,
sister, wife, home--may bring concepts that are unbearable. The
association of the word may make for deep unhappiness, of which the
nurse knows nothing. But she can learn that all these things do
influence attitude, can appreciate the difficulty of her patient's
effort at adjustment, and do all in her power to make that adjustment
possible. If the patient is reasonable she can appeal to her reason. If
she is too sick for that, the nurse can use happy suggestions. If the
mind is deluded and obsessed she can use firm kindness. She can learn
what loss of privileges will affect the rude and unco-operative patient,
and may be allowed to try that. She can sometimes help the patient to
self-control by making her realize that after each outburst she will be
constructively ignored.
But the point we wish to make is this: There are some sick reactions
which the nurse, if she recognizes as such, can help the patient to
transform into wholesome ones. At the very least the wise nurse can
learn to simplify her own difficulties by accepting the unpleasant
patient as possibly the result of her illness, and refusing to allow her
trying attitude to get on her nerves. The patient may be reacting
normally to the stimulus her untrained and toxic brain received. And
when the nurse can see into the other's mental workings, get her point
of view, she is ready to give fundamental help.
More
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Association Of Ideas
After the first few years of life practically nothing enters consciousness that cannot by some likeness or contrast or kinship be connected with something already there. Were it not for this saving economy memory would be helpless. So the nurse who ... Concentration
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We took a glimpse at random into the mental life of an adult consciousness, and found it very complicated, constantly changing. We found it packed with shifting material, which, on the surface, seemed to bear very little relation. We found reason,... Consciousness In Delirium
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Sleep seldom, if ever, is a condition of utter unconsciousness. We so frequently have at least a vague recollection, when we wake, of dreaming--whether or not we remember the dream material--that we are inclined to accept sleep as always a state of ... Consciousness Is Complex
The one fact we want at this stage of our inquiry is simply this: that consciousness, awaking at birth, very soon becomes complex. However single and simple in content immediate consciousness may be, it is so intimately linked with all preceding exp... Development Of Reason And Will
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Suppose that when you first enter the ward you are wishing with all your heart you had never decided to become a probationer. Perhaps the white screen and its possible meaning has so frightened you that your thoughts refuse to go beyond it. Suppose ... Environment
While environment may prove the saving grace from poor heredity, it may itself add heavily to the debit side. With the very best of health backgrounds, environment may damage body and mind beyond repair. Under environment we include everything that ... Getting The Other Man's Point Of View
Our points of view are very frequently merely hereditary or acquired prejudices, hence altogether emotional rather than rational. We only with great difficulty see things through another man's eyes. It necessitates comprehending his background fully... Habit Is A Conserver Of Effort
It is always easier to follow a beaten path than to break one's way through untrodden forests. It is easier to walk after we "learn how," and learning how is simply doing it over and over until the legs and feet have acquired habits of motion and ac... Heredity
When we consider the accumulated possibilities for disorder which the family tree of almost any one of us can show, the wonder is not that there are so many nervous or insane, but rather that any come within hailing distance of the normal. For multi... Judgment
The conclusion or decision that reason has reached we call a judgment. The youth who decides against the sweet between meals, we say, has good judgment. And we base our commendation on the proved fact that sweets are real fuel, giving abundantly of ... Memory
No mind retains consciously everything that has ever impressed it. It is necessary that it put aside what ceases to be of importance or value and make way for new impressions. We found early in our study that the subconscious never forgets, but harb... Necessity Of Adaptability
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The nurse soon realizes the uselessness of attempting to argue a patient out of his delusions, of trying to convince him that the things he sees and hears and perhaps tastes and feels, are but hallucinations. Her very insistence only fastens his att... One Thought Can Be Replaced By Another
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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
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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
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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
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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...