Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-04

a"
IRkv~Xl ment by the sudden pro-
~ R@I nunciation of a single word
III M is the achievement of DR..
IN ~ Shepherd Ivory Franz, who is
lesgl@ in charge of the psychological
laboratory of the government hospltal
for the insane at Washington He sue
ceeds by working on the theory that
there are thousands of cases of insan-
ity which can be successfully treated
II the cause of the mental disease can
be ascertained, and the explanation
made to the patients that their un-
healthy thoughts have no foundation
In fact
There was sent to him recently a
young man who had an overpowering
fear of open places. the outdoors or
any unenclosed place, and who was
under the domination of this terror
to such an extent that he could be
made to leave his bedroom only by
physical compulslon. DIR. Franz took
him into the treatment room" Of the
laboratory, where there is very little
light and no noise. Seating the pa
tisnt in a comfortable easy chair, the
doctor told him to relax himself and
try not to think of anything After a
dead silence of several minutes, the
doctor began to pronounce with sud
den emphasis single words which he
thought might produce in the mans
mind some idea having a bearing on
the cause of his delusions. Every time
he pronounced a word he leaned over
and struck the patient sharply on the
knee.
He went through more than hun
dred words without getting any re-
suits. Finally. when he said "hole,"
the man paused moment before MAX
fyfu n N -
encouraged Franz. His next word, ac-
companied by the tap on the knee, was
trench" From this he got results,
and gradually. with infinite patience,
he brought out the story OF what bad
unseated the patients mind. 1t was
this: One morning he had been run
ming at the top of his speed to over
take moving street car, and the
chase had carried him halfway down
the next block. just as he was about
to grasp the handle bar of the car and
swing himself aboard, he looked down
and saw yawning at his feet freshly
dug sewer trench. One more step and
he would have had a fall of eight feet,
but he managed to bring himself up
short.
AT first the experience had had no
appreciable effect, but such shocks to
the brain work gradually. In few
WalklIK
in open fields. Next he disliked to
cross the street, and this went so far
that he could not be prevailed to do
so unless he was accompanied by
guide. After a while longer he refused
to walk across the yard from his house
to that of his next-door neighbor, and
the final stage of the disease was that
he was afraid to leave his room. DIR.
Franz, having established all this by
fhnnFtr Of 60
the real trouble by the use Of words
calculated to bring the mental pictures
back to him, had comparatively little
difficulty in explaining that the dread
was founded on fiction and that there
was really nothing to fear. The mans
complete recovery followed, and he
again occupies prominent place In
the business world.
These peculiar cases of insanity are
classed under the general title of
"phobias." The man who feared the
open places was an agoraphobiac.
Another case DR. Franz had was that
of pyrophobiac-the fear of fire.
This was a woman who dreaded fire,
and at various periods in the day i'm
agined that she was enveloped in
flames. At such time she suffered as
much as if she had. been actually on
fire. On very bright, sunny days the
brilliance of the sun persuaded her
that the world was burning up The
doctor was successful with her on the
third word, which was matches"
That reminded her dimly of her baby
having been burned to death as the
result of playing with matches. Grad
uaily he made her understand that the
child's death was no reason for her to
think she was on fire or to believe
that fire was to be dreaded all the
time.
1t is difficult to trace these "phobas"
to their true causes because, as was
pointed out in the case of the agora-
phobiac, the effects of the shock to
the brain do not appear at once, but
come out long afterward. The families
of the patients are often unable to as
sign any reasons for the mental break
down.
The asylum had one amusing case.
This was mysophobiac. a man who
feared dirt as ordinary people fall
away from pestilence. His mania for
washing his hands was never satisfied,
and the hospital attendants finally
agreed to let him go through these
ablutions eight times a day. On one
occasion he was allowed to go into the
lavatory unmatched, and when he was
found forty minutes later, he had used
seven towels. 1t was later discov-
cred that his trouble had come from
his seeing on a street a man who ap-
Deared to be particularly unkemDf and