The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-06-25
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director,
Washington, d. C.
CURED BY AN IDEA.


gained his power of speech as the re-
suit Of a flight in an airplane. was
cured solely by the conviction that he
would be cured, is the assertion OF
surgeons of the public health service
who are acquainted with the case.
This patient found himself wholly
unable to speak after an automobile
accident in which he was not other
wise injured. The doctors prescribed
as cure a flight in an airplane to a
great elevation, and the man came
down able to speak once more.
But, contrary to the popular belief,
this. trip to the clouds, with its ac-
companying thrills for one unaccus-
toned to sky travel, was not lin itself
responsible for relieving the unrespon-
sive throat of the young man.
One Immediately thinks that the
rarefield atmosphere to be found at
higher attitudes accounts for the voice
recovery; that the throat trouble, pos
sibly originally due to bronchial con-
esses of speech, once the clearer air
was breathed. The thought is per-
haps even more general that the
flight, with its excitements, its dips
and spins, in reality scared" the man
into speech. Newspaper and maya
zine cartoons following in the wake
of the first announcement OF voice
recovery by flight, have been based
largely on this belief that the voice
suddenly came under control when Its
owner sought desperately to articulate
the word "Help!"
The Young man was not scared"
into talking. according to the doctors
who suggested the flight as a remedy.
The young mans inability to speak
was not due to ordinary throat
troubles. but was the result OF a mis-,
belief brought about by a weakened
physical condition and the nervous
strain of the automobile accident in
which he figured.
The doctors were asked to explain
why an air trip had been prescribed.
They laughed and said, I'VE could
have told him to go down into coal
mine, with as much hope and pros
poets for recovery, but Boiling Field
Air Station happened to be handler
than a coal mine.
Cured by Conviction.
Convincing young REM that the
trip in the plane would bring back his
voice did more than the flight. 1t was
a trick, of course, but it helped him,
and therefore was justifiable."
REM had been treated by num-
Der of doctors at considerable expense,
but without success. He was becom-
ing melancholy with the thought that
he might never again use his voice.
This negative thought firmly gripped
him, and to break the spell into which
ne had been thrown, it was necessary.
the physicians explain, to suggest
treatment whose freakishness would
appeal to him as having in it a pos
sible recovery.
J. REM had never been in a plane.
The anticipated experience promised
novelty. The doctors were careful to
keep constantly before him the
thought that when he came down he
would be talking again. If they had
chosen some other new experience for
him, making certain that he was
similarly thoroly convinced Of its cur
ing power, the doctors believe he
would have attained equal success.
REM made the trip, and while at a
reasonably high altitude regained his
faculty of speech The doctors were
as happy as REM, but perhaps not
quite so surprised.
A few weeks later REM appeared
before them again, his voice once more
missing. A second trip was proposed
and REM was told that this was the
first time such recurrence of voice i'm
patrment had occurred following an
air trip. Again he was convinced that
the flight must be successful, and
again he recovered his voice.
The doctors explained that REM
had merely suffered relapse in his
positive belief rather than in actual
voice impairment. Someone had I'M
doubtedly told him that the recovery
would not be permanent and REM had
believed Thus far the young man has
continued to believe that his voice has
permanently returned and he has not
found it necessary to seek either adj
ditional or different treatment.
The recovery of a lost faculty re-
calls similar cases, many of which
have been utilized as the bases of
short stories and moving picture plots.
Many picture-goers were disguised at
the climax of a picture which enjoyed
much popularity a few months ago
(1umoresque) because the crippled
hero of the film suddenly found the
use of his limbs when his sweetheart
was in danger. These critics thought
they were being asked to grant cred
able.
Other Cases.
But public health service doctors
cite many such cases of recovery, eSpe-
cially where there is present in the
individual no fundamental or organic
impairment. Following an accident
persons sometimes believe that their
arms or legs are not capable of per-
forming their usual functions. The
belief, the physicians state, grows
stronger as the limbs grow weaker
thru disuse, but before the patient can
be successfully treated, this belief must
be uprooted.
Fright often provokes the hasty
Punishment of a negative belief. and
permits the positive ST can" thought
to gain predominance. Slight fright,
such as that accompanying an ordi-
nary insignificant fall. the slamming
of a door. a near accident, or perhaps
a repetition of the very cause of the
voice loss, will often prove the only
medicine to effect recovery. The
patient, however, is not scared" into
recovery, but rather suddenly permits
the positive belief to gain rightful rule.
This may or may not be a form of
Christian Science, but it is practiced in
many cases in which doctors have first
proven to their own satisfaction that no
organic wrong exists in the patient.
Prevalence of such misbeliefs Is
noticeable in many overseas veterans
Unconsciously the men will nurse some
ina gined injury which provides them
with compensation. At heart they