Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-28

country a. eye, ear 6-thl
clinics and SHopedic clinics The city hc
maintain free wards for all such cases. But II ls
only within the last few years that few cltles
have established mental dspensaries where people
could go and be treated free OF charge tor menCai
diseases.
In New York, Boston, Baltimore, Ann Arbor,
Mich and several other cities mental dispensaries
have been introduced with encouraging success III
a few other cities hospitals have established free
mental wards, but the instances are all too Few
In every community there are many persons VINO
in need of mental treatment, just as others are
i'll need of throat treatment, but there is no pro-
vision them Nerve specialists there are plenty.
but specialist is the one type Of medical
man who rarely undertakes philanthropic work
not that he is unwilling but somehow people do
not look for nerve diseases among the poor.
Yet more neurotics, morons, psychopaths and
feeble-minded persons are to be found among the
poorer classes than anywhere else The American
Society of Mental Hygiene recently made study
of the inmates of several American prisons ana
established the fact that with few exceptions, the
criminal is mentally defective. Most drug add1cts.
Migrants, irresponsibles and denquents, moreover.
victims of mental disorders. And, while these
types not peculiar to the poorer classes, they
most prolific under poor economic conditions
Here where the struggle for existence is hardest,
where the strain is always felt and mans person
ality is in constant conflict with his environment,
is the great need for the mental clinic
One difficulty lies in the way of the mental
clinic however, which does not affect other clinics
That Is the diffdence most people feel towards ad-
hitting any mental infirmity. About his sore
throat or his hay fever his lumbago will
talk to you for hours, but let it be suggested
that it is his personality which needs little treat
ment and he energeticay rises to his de-
tense. Thus it happens that patients usually
brought the mental dispensary, and not attracted
there. A mother brings her small at the sug
geston of an officer of the juvenile court; woman
is sent to the dspensary by her physician; still
other cases are brought by social workers.
Often, too, person has no suspicion whatever
that he is suffering from mental trouble His symp
toms may be anything from headaches to hallucina-
tionS Indigestion is frequently caused by mental
excitement instead of uncongenial food. Blind
ness and Deafness palsies and paralyi may
be symptoms of mental disorder just as much
hysteria, hypochondria and tantrums A music
teacher for years used to have vomiting spells reg
ulary every Saturday night. She tried all indi-
gestion remedies to avail. Then she happened to
come under the observation of a psychiatrist,
friend of the family. He discovered that on Satur
days this young woman taught pupils in widely
separated parts of the city, that she constantly
running to catch cars, and worrying over possible
delays in her appointments. By evening her nerves
keyed to such a pitch that nausea was the
result.
He explained the matter to the young womans
family, and got them to persuade her to give up
these Saturday pupils for a couple of months and
to spend her Saturday afternoon in the gymnasium
of the local Y. w. c. A This prescription was
cessful where all the indigestion remedies had
On the other hand, organic disturbances of one
kind and another often responsible for mental
disorders. In fact, medical science progresses,
the mind and the body are discovered to be more