The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-03-26
JEALOUSY Is A DISEASE.
DR.. George F. Shrady Describes
Its Physical Result.
Leads to Insanity--One of the. Nest
Common Emotions Among Man.
kind and Very Dangerous
One TO Indulge In.
Copyright, 1881

known authority has described pecu-
liar case coming within his profession
al experience; while in America a
startling homicide, caused by a step
mothers jealousy is too commonly
treated with levity by the unthinking.
1t is in most cases, according to the
best medical authorities, either a dis
ease which results in insanity or a
manifestation of insanity itself.
In the English case the physician re-
ports that he was called in by woman
who told him that she was extremely
jealous of her husband, and that If
something were not given to relieve
her she feared she would go out of her
mind; and then, in the presence of the
physician, she quarreled with her hus-
band over her charges of infdelity, I'M
til she went into spasms. These spasms
were not epileptic, and the physician
could only believe that they were the
result of hysteria, due to the condition
which the patient had described to him.
The symptom he diagnosed as that of
a mind diseased by brooding over real
or imagined wrongs.
Dir. George F. Shrady, the editor of
the Medical Record, says that jealousy
is very common form of disease, and
one in which physicians are often con-
suited.
Men and women have some hest
fancy in consulting a physician about
the manifestations of jealousy" said
DR.. Shrady, because of the extreme
confidential character of the ailment
Therefore it very seldom comes under
the physicians eye directly, as in the
English case quoted. But it often pro-
duces physical conditions which make
the services of a physician necessary,
and in this way cases of jealousy come
under his observation. 1t also hap
pens that a case is called to the ply
sician's attention by some one other
than the patient. Jealousy is sometimes
a manifestation of insanity. DR.. Theo-
dore f. Kellogg, who is one of the high
est authorities on the subject, says in
his book on insanity: Love and jeal-
ousy are complex emotions, and the
subject of them always presents an
area OF intense vulnerability. Disap-
pointed love is in woman an occasional
cause of a psychosis-'insanity"-bu
this occurrence in men is very rare and
it is then to be attributed to wounded
pride rather than to unrequited love.
Jealousy is a veritable demon among
emotions, and there is probably no
keener torment than the fiendish rack
of jealousy, to which the squel is not
infrequently suicide, homicide or In
| sanity.
81 do not agree with DR.. Kellogg's
conclusions about men," continued DR..
Shrady. Men are as sensitive as wom-
en- to the influence of jealousy and
disappointed love; but a man cannot
wear his heart upon his sleeve be-
cause he must come in contact with the
world in his effort to earn his bread.
However, the seriousness with which
DR.. Kellogg treats jealousy is none too
great. The fact that the Lancet has
taken the subject up shows what gray
| fly it possesses for the medical pro-
| fession; and whatever of fun is pol1ed
at it in the comic papers and in con-
versation, jealousy is a matter to which
too much earnest thought cannot be
given"
as jealousy caused by physical con-
ditions and subject to correction indi-
rectly through medicines?" asked.
Jealousy can be traced to physical
conditions, and it also creates diseases
or physical ailments. A woman who is
pregnant may be insanely jealous. A
man whose liver is out of order finds
his mind depressed, and in that NOR
bid condition may become easily prey
to unreasoning jealousy, A dyspeptic
may become the victim of n jealousy
traceable 20 purely physical causes.
But on the other hand, jealousy fire.
quently creates such troubles as dys-
pepsia, heart disease, and so on. In
this respect it acts much as disappoint-
ment in love or failure in business acts
with some persons. Its first effect is
usually feeling as though the bottom
of the stomach had dropped away, ac-
companied, perhaps, by u sense of
nausea. At the same time, it is likely
to affect the heart action, because the
heart and the stomach are served by
the same set of nerves. This feeling
continuing, causes loss of appetite,
heart failure and insomnia. A man
who has failed in business is usually
knocked out completely, to use
popular phrase. lie often reaches a
dangerous physical condition as the re-
suit of the mental depression caused
by his misfortunes. Both men and wo-
men are similarly affected by disap-
pointment in love. We are accustomed
10 make light of this, but it is really
most serious matter, in many cases af-
fecting all the physical functions. l
have known young girls to be broken
down completely by the severing of an
engagement; and while there is liter
ally no such thing as a broken heart,
death has resulted in many cases from
the depression caused by disappoint-
mcnt in love. have known of cases
where the depression resulting from
such disappointment was greater than
in typhoid fever and the insomnia of
such serious character that it took the
most powerful drugs TO overcome it.
That. Of course, is about all that
physician can do for patient who is
suffering from depression. except TO Of
fer sympathy and advice if the patient
makes him a confdant. In cases or love
sickness. physicians are sometimes
Obliged ~ intervene with the parents