Faced with their own therapeutic impotence, and convinced that hereditary factors played an important part in causing psychosis and mental handicap, they recommended that those who had suffered should not produce children. Undoubtedly these considerations were important in the advice that Leonard and Vanessa were given when they sought advice about the possibility of children. Time has provided some justification for their anxieties. He advised early treatment, believing that it shortened the course and reduced the risk of suicide. He considered that relatives and friends aggravated all the symptoms.
Rest is the treatment that is required'.
The patient must be kept in bed for some time, and on no account must any mental work be permitted. Most melancholics are very troublesome with their food, and if if this is not taken,forcible feeding must be resorted to'. He recommends various hypnotics to ensure rest and sleep. But it should be remembered that the family at all times sought the very best advice available in the country, at fees they could ill afford, and that their conduct towards Woolf was entirely determined by the medical advice they were given. Among the doctors, Craig, who had most to do with her treatment over many years, was progressive and well informed for the time, and his diagnosis then would be agreed today.