The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-10-19
TRAINING OF THE MIND
Principles of Psychology Ap- piled to the Cure of Ger
 tain Diseases.

Dr. Dubois, well-known neurolo- gist of Berne, has successfully applied the principles of psychology to the cure of certain diseases. This theory has just been set forth in a small book entitled "The Influence of Mind on Body" For a number of years he has been reporting cases in the Swiss and French scientific reviews Without entering Into the discussion of the relation between psychical and physical processes, he goes directly to the treatment of diseases by means of suggestion and the training of the will. Naturally, it Is in the case of nervous troubles that he has been particularly successful. The neu- rasthenic who is the most difficult to treat in ordinary ways, is the most susceptible to psychological infiu- ences. The restless, hysterical sub tect who is a virtuoso in the art of making the emotional Tyre vlbrate" {" is familiar figure in modern life. It is not the importance of the idea or event which makes his emotions vio- lent; his morbid states are excessive reactions to comparatively trivial stimuli. In popular language. he makes fuss about nothing. Yet, when he has to meet an important crisis, he finds himself helpless.
 A mistaken medical psychology may only aggravate these rnaladies; for no account Is taken of the fact fbof a r,uvnbiooi nrooaes nnno r,nas .. is the cause, and that psychical treatment may be cure of the com plaint. Here Is a typical case de- scribed by the author:
 Madame x Is in state of irrational emotion from morning until evening, and often from evening until morn ing. When she awakes she begins the day in condition of anxious agi- tation. She feels already crushed be- meath the weight of all she has to do, and of all she will have to suffer ' The trifing annoyances which every mother of a family has to en> dure are for her not simple vexations, but are catastrophes, and the morn ing is already filled with them. At noon one of her sons has not come in. Instead of supposing that he is delay ed by his companions. she gets it into her head that he has been run over by the train, and she sends the servant to look for him. At the end of the day the unhappy woman has suffered twenty misfortunes which had no reality, and has in- | tured her nervous system without cause. If she sleeps, she Is troubled | by bad dreams. She awakes with headaches made still more supersensi- tive by fatigue, and the next day be- | gins once more the interminable suc- cession of morbid emotions.
 Now, instead of medication, Dr Dubois adopts the method of sugges- ton. Setting out from the fact that l the mind can increase or diminish the intensity of certain physiological pro, | cesses, Dr. Dubois concludes that the will can, in many cases, control and even cure without the use of medi
 cine. Every idea has tendency ts find expression in action, The mere representation of certain sensations l such as heat and cold makes then real; and, conversely, discomforts an6
 even severe pains may pass unnoticet l if the attention be diverted. Tht sensations which may be produced ar tificially in hypnotic subjects offer ar
 extreme example of the physical eff
 fects of imagination. Dr. Duboi!
 mentions the case of woman wh,
 could not smell flowers without faint
 ing, yet who would also faint whei
 an artificial bouquet was brought t
 her.
 It Is no help to say that stronI
 will Is necessary to overcome sucl
 nervous symptoms; for characteris
 tic mark of neurasthenia is irresolu
 tion. But even in the weakest pati
 ent there is a residuum that the psy
 chological method is concerned.
 is not the strong will, but the stron
 suggestion or motive which effect
 the case. The voluntary acts re quired are at first unimportant an easily performed. These show tn patient that he has command of him s self and prepare the way for othe acts of the kind, until complete sell
 control has been attained.-Ne' | York Evaniny Post