The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-03-04
CURING THE INSANE

some peculiar kirk IN HIS uEatNs tHE
patient had dwelt on that remark |
and had allowed 1t to become the
dominant thought in his life. result |
ing In his having no other desire
than to take baths and wash his
hands While this incident can be
related briefly, II is illustrative OF the
doctors patient methods that he had
20 use more than 5000 words In the
course of many treatments before he
set the mans mind to thinking of
the actual cause of the trouble. The
successful word was doctor. al
though such words as germ" and
disease had failed to make any
substantial suggestion TO the patients
mind.
One of DIR. Franz's patients was a
beautiful young woman who was
taken TO him because she had fear
OF anything red. hed curtains, red
carpets or anything OF that color
threw her into. what amounted to
commissions of fear. He took her into
the darkened, quiet room. 1t was
summer afternoon, and nothing could
be heard but the smooth hum OF an
electric fan on the table. He allow
| ed her to sit perfectly quiet for more
| than five minutes. Then ne leaned
forward, and. tapping her on the
knee, said sharply: "'Suicide!" Yes,
yes she said. and hesitated mo-
! meut--Thea -she-eeHtfRaed.-' t-was-
at a ball" Pistol" exclaimed the
| doctor. That brought back the whole
story of how she had been at a ger
man one evening and had seen a
man commit suicide in a conserva-
tory by shooting himself in the tenn
| pie The sight OF the blood on the
! suicides shirt front had been the
starting point OF her delusion. She
was cured in two weeks.
/ A peculiar case was that OF man
who had suddenly forgotten his own
| identity and had travelled through six
| different States without knowing who
he was. He was picked up in the
streets of Washington and sent to the
Hospital for the Insane. There was
nothing to suggest who he was, abso-
iutely no clue to his home. his occu-
patton or his name. 1t afterwards de-
veloped that he had been away from
| home eight months and had been go
ing down-hill all the time, until he
looked like the most miserable OF
tramps. The doctor saw the futility OF
trying to suggest to him his identity
by using all the names he had ever
4 heard. Accordingly. he tried the en-
! ployment line. None Of the ordinary
4 professions brought any response
/ Mention of doctors, lawyers. journal
! lists or ministers gave no result. ffte
: same was true OF all the WORDS refer
!, ring to such avocations as plumbers
i bricklayers, carpenters and teamsters
} Finally the doctor said: Il am look
} ing for somebody to tune my piano
L 1t proved to be the right cue. Inc
/ patient was q piano tuner from one
!. of the middle Western States. After
q three weeks of questioning ana
, prompting the doctor retraced with
|, the man all his wanderings made MN
: rememb Der his name and restored 70
: him tho complete mastery Oh aii HiS
8 mental faculties.
q one of the most bathing cases Franz
, ever had was the man who not only
was frightened every time he saw a
! horseshoe, but who was constantly
: possessed of the idea that 1t would
!. be used as a means or killing him.
: OF course, the natural assumption was
, that he had been kicked by horse
!. or run over by one, and that the
shock of tho accident had unseateo
; his reason Working on this theory,
! the doctor wasted many precious sit
: tit,gs and Eaed rIlp' hundreds OF Werds
: without making any progress toward
! discovering the true cause OF the trou-
u bile. II finally developed that the lei
. low had been struck on the head ny
{ a horseshoe, which had been nailed
over a door for good luck, and
!. which had fallen on him as he enter
u ed a friends house.
A direct opposite of the man wh'
feared the open places was the woman
:. who dreaded all closed or dark plaees
!. She had claustrophobia, and had de
u welcomed the mania of staying out-of
= doors and never entering the hous'
II unless compelled to do so. AS Is oftei
the case with mothers, her trouoi'
3 had come from an accident to he
= child. She had seen 1t. while play
e ing In big linen closet, have 1t
\ hand caught and crushed by TN
x closing of II heavy door. and the snoci
!. of the child's suffering preyed on ne
n mind until she had come to iear any
- thing with doors.
The "phohias" are the most trouble
: come durable cases with which IN
> psychiatrist or alienist has to deal u
! any of these patients had died Will
r In the worst stages of their menta
. arrangements. and autopsies had bee
. performed on them. their brain
4 would have appeared perfectly nor
. NAL. Their sufferings do not com
D from any decay or disease of tn
!. brain tissues. and it has been demon
. strated that were 1t not for the "wor
I treatment, all that could be done TO
O then, would be to allow them to SUITE
G for months and months. perhap
@ wears, before they could recover. Wit
e the new method. however, they ar
> often cured in marvelously shoT
o time.
( TOMORROW.
h Business Side OF Art.