The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-23

a trolley car, began to IVORY about her
only remaining child, a little daughter,
whom she had left behind.
The doctor in charge sent word to the ar:
the little one living happily with q Long
Island hotel keeper and his wife, who hal
offered to AXE charge OF her. They had
lost q little daughter Of their M
were 80 anxious to keep this child Instead
that the agent was able TO arrange thai
them also, after her release from the hos
pieal, rather than lose the little girl.
The mother is now happy in a good home
while the child il being clothed and educated
by the foster parents.
hospitals for the insane, but, through the
cooperation OF doctors who have clinics
for nervous diseases in various parts OF the
city, we have been BILE in several instances
to prevent threatened cases Of insanity, >
said Miss Clark, and am convinced that
when our work becomes better known and
supported we will be able to accomplish
much along pr~ophylactic lines.
Three or four weeks of complete change
and rest is often all that IL necessary to
restore a person to a perfectly normal
condition OF mind and nerves il the case
n dealt with in time. The majority OF
people, however, instead OF consulting a
physician as soon as the first symptoms OF
nervousness or insanity are noticeable In
J1tu IclhllVCbt VIII hcCp Ilctu az hOhto NhN
bear with their oddities until it is no longer
possible to live with them. and then the
hospital Is the only resource"
The efficacy OF a vacation in warding on
insanity was shown soon after the after
care work started. A young girl wa taken
which il held at a hospital far uptown
The doctor in charge learned that her
mother was dead and that she acted as
housekeeper for her father and several
younger brothers and sisters. During her
spare moments, instead OF going. out, she
sat in the house reading socialistic books,
n was growing not only nervous but
morbid and Disseminated with her lot IN
life.
family, though reduced in circumstances,
regarded accepting any aid from a charitable
agency as a disgrace. II took a great deal
OF tact and explaining away OF d~tf1culties
on the part Of the after care agent TO In
duce them to accept a vacation.
Finally she had the satisfaction OF see
ing the girl, accompanied by her aunt,
depart for a month OF farm life IN Con-
necticut. In the family where they were
sent to board were several daughters OF
about the patients age, who refused TO
allow her to sit in the house reading. as
she was inclined to do, and insisted upon
her accompanying than or walks and
drives and camping and boating parties.
Long before it was time to go home
the hitherto morbid girl had become the
jolliest Of them all. So favorable an inn
preston did she make, in fact, that the
family begged her to remain longer as their
guest, and when the thought OF her little
family at home made her refuse this IN
vitation they gave her another to come
the next summer and stay two months
L is almost impossible to recognize her
az the same girl since she has returned,
so happy and healthy minded has she
become. All her spare moments are spent
out of doors, in the parks when possible
and has disappeared.
Some Of the preventive work has dealt
with patients who, discharged from hos
pitfalls for the insane before the after care
committee vas organized, already show
signs Of a relapse. Most Of the patients,
especially those from the poorer classes,
become much attached to the hospital.
Often it represents to them their first
experience OF comfort and considerate
treatment and they return at intervals to
visit the nurses and the friends they have
made while there. 1t has been noticed,
too, that one OF the symptoms Of returning
insanity is when a patient comes more
and more frequently to revisit the place
where he or she found relief from former
gloom or hardship, and this kes 1t easy
for the doctors to keep in touch with a
OF them and recommend them to the after
care committee in time to prevent a com
plete relapse.
The hardest cases Of all TO help, how
ever, are the people above the work ing
class who rave held professional positions.
II will be a long time, according to the
workers Of the after care committee,
before the public at large will be educated
up to the point OF regarding insanity as
a disease which when cured is as COM
pletely cured as is a case OF typhoid or
measles.
The general prejudice to employing one
who il known to ave had a mental break
down is we'll nigh insurmountable where
a position of responsibility is concerned.
and while a laboring man may easily hnd
employment after coming from a hospital
for the insane it il almost impossible Tor
a teacher or bookkeeper 20 do so.
One young man in whom the after care
committee was much interested had held
an important position in a large banking
establishment and suffered a violent attack
of insanity from worrying over his respon-
sibilities. This firm afterward refused to
employ him in In capacity and he was
sensitive about applying elsewhere.
After much persuasion the alter care
agent induced the manager OF a silk house
where the young man had worked before
entering the banking firm to e him a
small position and thus he was enabled
to at least start life over again.