Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-04-19
PSYCHOANALYSIS
Ry Frederic j. Haskin

Washington. April ia science
which probes into your mind. discovers
the early forgotten influence and the
unrealized deprivations which are in
Juring your nerves. impairing your hap
piness and perhaps making you i'll, ana
which enables you TO overcome those
handicaps by understanding them
such is the new science of psyche
analysis at its best.
Naturally. il is calculated to make a
deep impression upon the imaginatfons
OF men. and to awaken a new hope in
the hearts OF many who realize that
their minds and nerves are somehow
badly adjusted to life, that they suffer
from ills which medicines cannot cure.
AS a result. psychoanalysis is rapidly
becoming the most popular of all sci
onces. Not many years ago IL was an
obscure new development in psychology.
frowned upon by scientists of the or
thodox school. sroutly defended by a
few progressive men in Europe and
America. Today popular magazines and
Sunday newspapers publish articles
about IT, whole library of books de-
signed 10 explain it to the layman has
been written. and it is a new unmedical
branch of the medical profession. with
attached to hospitals for nervous and
mental diseases. An English novelist,
J. ID. Beresford. recently published a
novel based upon psychoanalysis, and
an American writer. Floyd Dell, has Just
published one. the material for which he
IS said TO have gotten by having his
own mind analyzed by n psychoanalyst-
IL has furnished the basis for a new
method in writing biographies.
AS a result of all this, nearly every
one has hcared of psychoanalysis
Nearly everyone who reads at all has
read something abo- it, has some
idea OF what it is. And in 90 cases
out Of 100 the idea is highly erroneous.
Therein lies great danger. all the
true friends of the science are agreed.
Its popularity consists chiefly in n
widespread misunderstanding OF pgv-
Choanalysis. and this misunderstand-
ing can do much harm. In the first
place II is already bringing into being
a class of Charlatans who pose as
psychoanalysts. though having no
thorough knowledge OF the subject.
Some Persons Alarmed.
In the second place. many persons of
the sensitive sort. inclined to be neu-
rotiC, have been considerably upset hy
their readings Of psychoanalysis They
have discovered in themselves neurotfc
symptoms which were either in reality
very slight or else had no existence ex-
cept IN their own imaginations. 1t may
DC that in some cases the symptoms
were produced suggestively by the read
ing of books or articles on the subject
undoubtedly some persons have in this
way been caused great worry through
ErfOlfndlRGG fsaar ho4
cncd with insanity or inclined to var
Ious forms OF abnormality
In addition to these dangers TO the
individual from charlatans and from
the Influence on his own imagination
"i a smattcrinG Of information or mis-
Information. there is the danger--in fact
the probability-that there will be a
reaction against the science as a result
of the spread of erroneous ideas about
it,
For these reasons. many students of
psychoanalysis are advising that The
layman proceed cautiously in his study
OF the new science. They by no means
wish HIM TO be discouraged II he feels
Inclined TO make a study Of it, But
they ask him not 10 form ideas about
L. or about himself. merely on the
strength Of what he has been told or Of
a very little reading. Let him read.
fhey suggest, one Of the better popular
Xposiuons Of the subject, and then. if
he is still interested, let him proceed to
q study OF some Of the more important
works which he viii find mentioned in
he handbook. If he does this he viii
speedily be convinced of two things:
first. that psyChOanalysis IS an extreme
j. complicated subject OF which only
a trained mind can gain a real under
Outstanding by long study; and second.
that even the practitioners Of the science
themselves are in a state Of uncertain
y about it, and hold most of their ideas
tentatively rather than dogmatically.
Il is a new science. the fundamental
alue Of which is widely Acknowledged, 1
but the details OF which are Just be-
shining 10 be worked out.
Many Of its proponents believe that
the beginning Of psychoanalysis viii be
looked back upon as one of the great
strides forward in mans understanding
Of himself. Certainly, it has spread a
aood OF light into a thousand dark
corners Of human misery. II chaI-
lenges the value Of laws and social Gus
toms that are deeply intrenched in our
lives. 1t is sure to excite fierce opposi-
tion. And il will be a long time before
its proper place in the scheme of things
has been established. Meanwhile. it
IS a thing about which to be inquiring
and skeptical rather than enthusiastic
and credulous.
Not an Excuse for License.
There is a widespread notion that
and especially the doc /
trines Of Freud. tend 10 justify a great |
deal more freedom Of conduct than has |
generally been enjoyed by the majority |
Of people. AS a matter OF fact, this is /
not true What the psychoanalysts I
have really shown is that the happiness |
Of an individual depends upon the prop |
-r use Of all his energies. physical and |
mental rather than upon conformity /
10 any given set Of rules. But the
achievement Of this means the living /
n a carefully controlled and directed /
life
IN this point of view the psycho- /
a nalysts are in agreement with the
modern philosophical viewpoint, and /
with some of the most recent work
Of research along physiological lines.