Pueblo chieftain., 1921-04-19
By FREpERIck j. HAsKIN.


Washington. ID. c., April ia sci
cncc which probes into your mind. dis
Icovers the early forgotten influence
and the unrcalizcd dcprivations which
are in1uring your nerves. impairinE
your happiness and perhaps making
come those handicaps by understand-
ing thcm-such is the new science Of
lpsychoanalysis at its best.
Naturally. 1t is calculated TO make
a deep impression upon the imaSina
tons OF men, and to awaken new
hope in the hearts OF many who real
izo that their minds and nerves arc
somehow badly adjusted TO life. that
they suffer from ills which medicines
cannot cure. As a result. peychoanaly-
sis is rapidly becoming tho most pop
ular OF all sciences. Not many years
ago IL was an obscure new develop
mcnt in psychology. fro~ncd upon by
scientists of the orthodox school, stout
~ defended by a few progressive men
in Europe and America. Today popu-
lar magazines and Sunday newspapers
publish articles about II, a whole libra
~ of books desicncd to explain IL TO
the layman has been written. and 1t is
a new unmcdical branch OF the mcdi-
cal profession. with practitioners in
every large city and attached to hos
pitfalls for nervous and mental diseases.
An English novelist, ]. y. Bcrcsford.
psychoanalysis, and an American
writer. Floyd Dellhss jus, published
one tho material for which no is said
to have got by having his own mind
analyzcd by a psychoanalyst. II has
furnished the basis for new method
IN writing biographies.
As a result of all this. nearly every
ono has heard Of psychosnalysis. Near
ly everyone who reads at all has read
something about 1t, has some idea OF
what 1t is. And In nincty-ninc cases
out of a hundred the idea is highly
erroneous.
Therein lies great danger, all the
true friends OF the science arc agreed.
| Its popularity consists chiefly In "A
widespread Misunderstanding of psy-
lchoanaiysis. and this misundcrstand-
Ing can do much harm. In the first
place. 1t is already bringing into be-
ing class OF charlaians who pose as
psychoanalysts. tho having no thoro
knowledge OF tho subt~c;.
In the second place, many persons
| OF the sensitive sort, inclined TO be
ncurouc. have been considerably upset
by their readings OF psychoanalysis.
They have discovered in themselves
ncurouc symptoms which were either
in reality very slight or cisc had no
existence except in their own lima gina
tons. 1t may be that in some car~s
tho symptoms were produced sugSe.-
lively by tho reading Of books or arii-
clcs on the subject. Undoubtedly some
persons have in this way been caused
great worry through groundlcss tear
that they were threatened with insan-
ity or inclined to various forrns of
abnormality.
In addition to these dangers to tho
Individual from .charla,ans and from
the influence on his own imagination
OF smattcring OF information or mis-
information, there is the dangcr-ir
fact tho probability-that there will be
a reaction against the science as a re-
suit 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 tho now science. They by no means
wish him TO be discouraged IL he feels
inclined to make a study of IT, But
they ask him not to form ideas about
1t. or about himself. merely on the
strength OF what hc has been told or
OF very little reading. Let him read.
they suggest. one of tho better popular
expositions of the subject. and then.
" nc is still interested, let him pro-
coed to a study of some of the more
important works which he will find
mentioned in the handbook. II nc
does this, he. will speedily be con-
WINGED of two things: First. that psy-
choanalysts is an extremely compli-
Gated subject, of which only a trained
mind can gain real understa nding
by long study: and second. that even
tho practitioners of the science them-
| selves are In state Of uncertainty
| about 1t, and. hold most of their ideas
tentatively rather than dogma atically.
It is a now science. the fundamental
value Of which is widely acknowledGed
but the details OF which arc Just be-
ginning to he worked out.
Many of it's proponents believe that
the beginning OF phychoanalysis will
he looked upon as one OF tho great
strides forward in mans understand
ing OF himself. Certainly, 1t has spread
flood of light into a thousand dark
lcorners of shuman misery. II chaI-
Ilrngcs the value OF laws and social
customs that are deeply intrcnchcd