The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1907-03-05
INSANITY A DISEASE.

| DIR. Frank Billings, Gov. Deneen, and
others interested in the problem of the
| insane of the state have recommended
urgently that more adequate facilities
! be provided for the care of insanity
| rather than more places Of confine-
ment. They are in advaIce OF the
people of the state in their recognl-
| ton of the fact that insanity is dis
ease, quite as much so as scarlet FEVER
| or pneumonia, and that it can be cured
| if remedial measures are taken In
time. says the Chicago Tribune.
There was time when the insane
were regarded as possessed with evil
spirits and treated with the greatest
brutality Then followed the period
from which the world is just emerging
in which insanity has been regarded as
a mysterious dispensation of provi-
dence. In this period the insane have
been treated with more humanity. but
at the same time without any hope Of
cure Or intelligent steps toward it. Now
the time has come when insanity is
admitted by the wisest physicians to
be more widely prevalent than was be-
fore suspected, but at the same time it
is no longer a mystery or horror
The general practitioner does not
he does about other diseases. He does
not recognize it Immediately. He at
tributes the symptoms of it to other
causes. One reason for the success of
various forms of mind cures and faith
cures is the fact that many diseases
have no existence outside of the mag
inatiOn of the patient, and control of
the imagination will result in cure.
On the other hand, many manifesto
tons Of mental alteration are due to
purely physical causes. The family
physician ought to be able to tell when
a supposedly physical disturbance is
really mental and when mental dis
turbance is physical in origin. He can
portunity of studying cases other than
those which come to him in his prac-
tice, and which he often fails to rec
ognize until too late to be of service.
The only place where the general
practitioner can have the symptoms
of insanity pointed out to him is in an
insane asylum. A medical student Wis
it's hospitals to study the progress of
other diseases. He disSects bodies in
order to learn the construction of the
sion to asylums an important part of
his medical training is omitted 1t is
not enough that there should be insan-
ity experts. When patient is so far
advanced in insanity that he himself
Or his friends consult an expert, a
great deal of valuable time has been
lost. The physician ought to be able
to detect the symptoms Of insanity be-
fore the patient or his family has a
suspicion of it. and he can do so only
if he has the asylums open to him
under proper regulations as freely as
the hospitals
1t is natural that under the influence
of old fashioned ideas of insanity as
ulSSEdce VI dl dIllCllOil
the families of the insane should be
sensitive and object to the observation
of these cases. But Legislators should
be enlightened enough to know there
is no disgrace in insanity any more
than in chickenpox. and that the well
fare of the whole state demands that
there should be a more general knowl-
edge of the symptoms of the disease
and its causes and its cure. If the
study of case in the asylum by
young doctor is the means of keeping
another man on the safe side Of the
dividing line between sane and insane,
nobody's feelings should be allowed to
stand in the way. In the case of the
medical fraternity against the legisIa-
ture even if the Legislature is unani-
NOUS the doctors are right. With reg
ulations which will keep out the cur
ious and those who are not sufficiently
advanced in their medical studies to
profit by it, doctors and medical stu
dents should be encouraged to visit
the asylums and clinics should be held
| for them.