Paragould soliphone., 1921-07-01

| positive belief rather than in actual voice impairment. Someone had ull- do,ibtedly told him that the recovery would not be permanent, and Renz had believed Thus far tine young | man has continued to believe that
 his voice has permanently returned
 and he has not found il necessary
 to seek either additional or differ
 ent 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 dis gusted at the climax Of q picture l which enjoyed much popularity a | few months ago (HumoresQue) be-
 cause the crippled hero of the film isuddenly found the use of his limbs | when his sweetheart was ill danger. These critics thought they were be- ling asked to grant credence to some ! thing little unreasonable.
 l But Public Health Service doctors cite many such cases of recovery, es- pecially where there is present i'll I the individual no fundamental or l organic impairment. Following an | accident persons sometimes believe that their arms or legs are not capable of performing their usual 1 functions. The belief, the physicians lstate, grows stronger as the limbs grow weaker through disuse, but before the patient can be successful- fly treated, this belief must be up- lrooted
 Fright often provOkes the nasty i banishment of a negative belief, and permits the positive "I can" thought to gain predominance. Slight fright, such as that accompanying an or Il dinarily insignificant fall, the slam Inning of a door, 8 car accident, or perhaps g repetition of the very !, cause of the voice loss, will often lprove the only medicine to effect lrecovery. The patient, however, is
 not scared" into recovery, but rather suddenly permits the posi- : tive belief to gain rightful rule.
 This may or may not be q form of } Christian Science, but il is prac- } ticed in many cases in which doc-
 tors have first proven to their own ? satisfaction that no organic wrong
 exists in tho patient.
 Prevalence of such misbeliefs is l eran8. Unconsciously the men will } lnurse some imagined injury which provides them with compensation. , At heart they have no thought of
 defrauding the government. They } would be sorely insulted if it were , suggested that they were playing ? makeb believe merely to gain the checks Uncle Sam has provided for ,, hem in lieu of perfect health. IT , compensation were suddenly removed : and they were thrown on their own resources. their faculties might sud denly return. It is all subcon- sciOus process over which the indi- yidual has no control. Gradually
 the doctors are helping these men T to believe positively, and are there ! by adding to the list of recoveries. ' One of the Public Health Service 2 doctors engaged in treating these ,, nerve-aiflicted patients tells of q woman who figured in street ear
 could no longer use her arm, though doctors failed to find an injury. 7 Several months later the woman ob- 7 tained a settlement from the traction
 company, and shortly afterward her arm readily functiOncd in pre-acci- , dent style. The doctors explained , that subconsciously the woman had anticipated q financial settlement for
 the supposed injury, and that oncs settlement had been accomplished there existed no longer the belief that each impairment was an ad
 vantage. A fraud? No, say the doctors, for } the woman was so situated that the use of her arm wuold have meant } much more to her than the sum she COlleCLeu. IL was merely SuDcOn- lscious belief that would not be ban ished until all chance for future financial gain was removed.
 It would be easy, of course, to ex-
 asgerate this idea into supersti- tion. What these cases really show
 is that a person can be function ally injured by an idea, and that he injury can be cured by subst-
 tuting another idea for the damag- ing one. If the vocal chords of ftenz had been actually impaired, the doctors say, airplane flights would have done nothing for him. Il But this power of ideas to injure and aid us is interesting There are probably few of us who arc not being bullied and weakened by some idea or other.
 ASLEEP, WALKS FROM