The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-01-14
Religion and Insanity.
[From the New York Tribune. |

less religion in the community, or il
it were less earnest and emotional
there would be fewer lunatics. Some
persons have said, apropos of the
Guiteau case, that ministers should
be careful how they teach a high
view of inspiration, or preach on the
story of Abraham or inculcate the
more solemn doctrines of the Church,
for they may make their Pensioners
insane. In so far as this idea arises
from attributing religious delusIons
to religion, it is simply foolish. The
topics of lumatic's wandering
thoughts are not the cause of his
alteration. and no one supposes they
are except when religious delusions
are in question. A man imagines he
is a glass jar;-nO one calls the art Of
glass making the cause of the vagary.
A woman is overcome by diseased
propensity to take goods from shop
counters mo one thinks the shops
/ must be closed. In delirium tTemens
the patient sees snakes ARE snakes
the cause Of delirium tremens? Or
would there be less of the disease if
there were fewer reptiles? Insanity
is an impairment of the physical con-
/ dltion and powers of the brain, and
its causes must be sought either in
original defects or in influences which
have hindered normal brain action.
The tendrils of the vine wind about
the oak, but the oak has nothing to
do with causing the vines growth.
So the wandering thoughts of luna
tic stray toward all sorts of subjects,
but that is no indication that the
subjects haye produced the malady.
The insane belief that one is Jesus
Christ. or that he is inspired, or that
he has committed an objectionable
sin, is not in any sense caused by the
doctrine of the incarnation, or of in
sDiratiOn, or of future punishment.
The cause is q! ways physiological.
There is another aspect to the idea
in which it is more plausible. Strong
emotions-anxiety, fear, sympathetic
eXcltement-may, as is now known,
so affect the brain as to produce phys
zeal disturbance, and ultimately in
sanity. Religious methods do-some
more than others-arouse the emo.
tions hence erroneous methods may
have a tendency IL feeble or suscep-
tible natures to unhinge the mind.
But it S not the religion in them
which is the dangerous element.
Whenever case of insanity is trace.
able to religious exercises, labors or
as an exciting cause of
brain disturbance, it will be found
thatthese contained another element,
quite distinct from the religion.
Journals say that in Louisville lately
a loving husband sat up night after
night tending his sick wife, until
anxiety ard loss of sleep
disOrdered his brain. He was seized |
at midnight, while others were away
and asleep. with the delusion that !
she needed to be bled, and made
seventeen cuts with a penknife, one
OF which severed an artery from
Which she bed to death. Their son,
returning to the room next morning.
was shocked to find his mother dead
and his ather raving. The healing
was not the cause of
This, but malnutrition of the brain
rom excitement and loss of sleep,
exercise and food. So in the case of
farmers wife who becomes insane
lnder the excitement of a camp
meeting. She is perhaps naturally
If week, easily perturbed brain Or
sanization. She has always been
accustomed to an uneyentful, unemo-
lonal life, to a plain diet, dai Y
outline labor, and early sleep. From
hese she goes to a scene of stirring
excitement, an entire change of food.
exercise. and evening
meetings. in which exhortation, pray.
r and praise are spun out until to-
yard midnight. If the brain sue
umbs to the chage, the cause of the ,
disturbance will commonly be found ,
n some Of the novel and unwhole. 6
ome physiological influences in :
ne religious element viewed by I
tself.
Accordingly recent medical writers /
n insanity are frank and cordial in a
isavowing that religion is to be ac-
Dunted one of its causes, and teach c
nat mental acceptance of religious l
'uths as commonly held in America i
nd England conserves the powers t
nd tends to avert insanity. Whar- /
IN and Stille Il Med Juris. sec. 662) d
lote many opinions to this general h
feet, and state, as the result of their n
aiding and observation. that Chris
anity, taken in its practical sense, D
IS no tendency to produce INSANITY. fl