The San Francisco call., 1897-12-19
ODD
NERVE
COMpI IAlNTS

Medical statistics show that nerve
complaints are greatly on the increase.
They are especially noticeable in large
towns among those who lead sedentary
or idle lives
Nervous manifestations are extreme
" varied, from irritability upward; but
there is quite series of nervous
troubles which border on the realms of
psychology, and are curious from sew
eral points of view.
These are the troubles of fear, the
dread of some object which is alto
gether inoffensive but which, never
theless, produces a painful impression
which it is difficult-in many cases eX-
ceedingly difficult-to overcome.
Probably the chief of these phobias
is the fear of space, or agoraphobia.
The person attacked by it experiences
either a kind of uneasiness or even an
absolute difficulty when he has to cross
a large square or wide street II there
are but few people about.
He is seized with a sensation of fear,
he feels oppressed, bewildered; his
heart beats quickly, he shudders, turns
pale and red by turns and his legs
tremble. At times the sensation of
fear is so great that he becomes quite
incapable of taking a step forward and
feels much the same as we do in
dream when we wish to fly from some
danger and cannot move our legs.
The person who suffers from agora-
phobia is not really afraid; he knows
very we'll that there is nothing to fear,
but he cannot master the impression
which takes possession of him. In one
case a young man, suffering from this
complaint, had to cross the Place de
la Concorde, Paris, to go to work.
Every morning when he started on his
journey he made up his mind to over
come this feeling, and boldly took
few steps across the place; but his
fears got the better of him, and he
hastily made his way back to the
pavement to go all around instead of
crossing.
This complaint is more common than
might be supposed. Many sufferers
contrive to hide the truth from their
friends by various expedients, and a
long article could be written about the
stratagems adopted. 1t is not a very
serious complaint, although decidedly
inconVenient.
Other people fear crowds. If they
find themselves suddenly surrounded
by several people or stopped in their
walk by some obstacle, such as wait
ing for a procession to pass, a thrill of
pain goes through them. They feel
as though they were sitting for want
of air, and occasionally this feeling is
so strong that it causes t. EN- to go off
into a dead faint.
On the other hand, there are people
who cannot be left by themselves in a
room without becoming timid, and the
least noise irritates them and makes
them look around in a scared manner,
which seems absurd to those not af-
flicted with this nerve trouble. This
is quite distinct from the fear of
danger; brave men suffer from it. This
trouble is called monophobia.
The fear of catching certain diseases
must also be claSsed among these pc
culiar nerve complaints. People who
have such a dread of certain disease
often fall i'll of it simply through their
unjustified fear. Specialists give this
trouble the name of pathophobia.
Another trouble-a very common one
is what might be called the doubt
complaint 1t is chiefly noticed in
young men and women. 1t consists in
dread of committing some error
Those affected hesitate to take any
step, however unimportant, the spirit
of enterprise, of initiative, entirely dis
appears; they make all sorts of in
quiries before doing anything and
take so long TO consider that the op-
portunity is past before they have ar
rived at a decision.
Nerve troubles are rarely cured by
forcible means. The sufferer must be
dealt with gently and efforts made to
effect cure by Strengthening the sys-
tenn, for lowness OF tone" is the
chief cause of all these phobias, which
are aggravated by delay in treatment.