Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-05
PREvENTABLE FORMS OF INSANITY
Described by Dr. Whe6eld N Thompson Superintendent of
Hartford Retreat and Chairman of Executive Committee
of Connecticut Society for Mental Hygiene.

i
Of the insane, and their relations to
the family and community, and par
Iticularly the study of causes and pre-
| vention of insanity have heretofore
! been left very largely to societies or
| individuals who give their time to
| this special work. More than any 9TH
i er class the insane have come to be
/ regarded as wards of the state. From
| time immemorial they have been mis-
understood and generally ignored. Be-
/ fore the days of hospital care they
1 were popularity considered as the vic
/ TINS of demoniacal possession; since
care has been provided in hospitals,
Especially adapted to them, they have
been removed from public attention,
and consequently from public inter-
4 est.
AT no time has insanity received any
such consideration and study as has
been bestowed upon tuberculosis and
other physical disorders. 1t is not
| strange, therefore, that to unthink-
| ing and uniformed public opinion all
cases of insanity are alike The man
| who has never studied this form of
/ disease has no knowledge Of causes
! and is as likely to see. in a mental
| trouble visitation as an illness. He
can take account only of superficial
| conditions and cannot see in symptoms
reactions to definite mental processes,
| and he passes the patient as one suf-
| fering from a malady fated and in
durable.
AS of old the Persians looked upon
their sick as unclean, and not to be
| touched, so today the receiving Office
| of any institution for the insane en-
| counters ideas and attitudes indica-
| tive of just as much lack of knowledge
and the same sort of superstition.
Public Should Know.
"Once insane. always insane" has
| been the public conception of mental
| illness, and probably there has never
| been a time when the occurrence of
| insanity did not carry with it a stig-
ma. To add further to the lop-sided
| ideas and confusion in the lay mind,
physicians in general practice have
avoided the subject and psychiatrists
| have not always been in full accord
| There is obvious need to bring to pub
| lie attention conditions that, directly
or indirectly, are responsible for more
| pain and suffering than occurs in any
other form of illness, and to present
some of the problems that are related
to class that in numbers make up a
large percentage of the population of
the state.
The effort to get a public hearing
for the insane through newspapers and
| magazines is not a new one, and
like many humanitarian projects, had
its inception abroad where hhmanitar-
ianism seems no longer to exist. Nor
Ell, of Belgium, some years since,
speaking before the National Associa-
ton Of Charities and Correction, adj
vocated Guardian Societies for the
insane on the belief that much good
could be done by giving popular adj
dresses upon the predisposing and ex-
citing causes of insanity and proven
tive treatment of the malady. When
once these questions become under
stood by the public mutual aid, moral
as we'll as material, becomes possible.
From that moment the insane will be
considered as sufferers from disease.
These popular addresses should in
struct as to the patients early treat
ment, giving short and clear descrip-
tons showing how a mental; trouble
can be recognized. People still remain
distrustful of hospitals for the insane.
They do not believe as they should
that many cures are possible and that
they are more frequent and rapid if
the patient be placed early under treat
ment. Guardian societies should in
this way help to prepare people by in
formation which shall combat these
prejudices, and the public should be
taught to take an interest in what &C
tually goes on in asylums and how
patients are treated there. These re-
suits can only be obtained by constant
cooperation among persons of broad
ideals who shall interest themselves
in arranging public lectures in which
shall be set forth the suffering en-
gendered by mental disease, the hope
that lies in early treatment and the
conditions which may contribute to
recovery and prevent recurrence of
the disease"
In Massachusetts.
A practical attempt is being made in
Massachusetts, to arouse interest and
to spread information on what is be-
ing done for the insane, together with
suggestions as to methods of proven
ton, by inviting representatives of the
newspapers to visit the hospitals, to
study methods at first hand, and to
hear reports by members of the med
zeal staff. At such meeting held
last month twenty-four newspapers
were represented. The press has per-
formed a remarkable service in re-
cent years in presenting the essential
facts in an instructive manner con-
corning diptheria. typhoid fever,
causes, and preventive measures that
may be employed against them. AS
fruitful service can be performed for
mental disease.
In order to make effective any eff
fort directed toward the prevention of
insanity it is essential first, that the
haze of superstition and the idea that
insanity Just happens" and Is not the
result of definite causes be cleared
away; second, that the fact be recog-
nized that there are entirely distinct
different causes. 1t cannot be safely
maintained that of the various forms
of insanity the cause is known for
every group or class, but the causative
factors are understood in at least fifty
per cent. of all cases, of which more
than half are absolutely preventable
One of the most notable examples of
mental disease traceable to sin
gle cause is paresis, or general par
alysfs OF the insane, which, until with
In about three years, was regarded as
due to excuses Of various kinds, direct
Injury, or ovec-exertion. It is now
admitted beyond any sort Of question
that It is a syphilftic disease. The
extent Of the prevalence Of this dis
order is probably not generally known.
One hears Of q case now and thcs>b but
more frequently It's occurrence Is not
known to any outside the immediate
family. What comes to public atten-
ton is report Of a heat prostratfon,
condition of nervous exhaustion, con-
vulsive seizure caused by over eating,
or some other made to order reason
for a known incapacity But after a
little naaaady declares itself and leads