Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-28
and Philosophers St. Elzabeths Scorn Idle Existence

shame are fighting in his mind. He
| is sent out on a night patrol. Some
times he has thought that his troubles
| would be over if he could be slightly
wounded, so that he would be inva-
! lided back to a hospital. He returns
from the patrol uninjured. But in the
| darkness as he stumbles back into his
I own lines he bumps his shoulder
against post. Ordinarily this would
hCause at the worst a slight bruisc. and
| under ordinary circumstances the man
would not pay any attention tc it. SO
far as his conscious thoughts are con-
cerned, he disregards it now. But in
/ his SubConsciOus mind this is the
| slight wound for which he has louCed
the thing which will send him to the
! peace. comfort and safety of a hos
| pital bed.
| The next morning the mans arm is
! paralyzed. lie cannot lift il. The
| company physician can do nothing.
! The man is ''out of the war" This
was one of the manifestations OF
| Shell shock" The paralysis, of
| course. could be cured. once some
| physician skilled in nervous diseases
| dug out of the subconscious mind the
| original cause of the trouble.
This man was not a malingerer or
a coward. 1t was not himself, but
| his subconscious personality which
| had deserted the front ranks. He had
no conscious idea that the cause of
| the paralysis of his arm was fear. In
one respect only he had lost his bear
| ings with respect to reality.
| The shell shock" cases as thev
| came from the lines or from the train
| ing camps were classified as neuroses
mental abnormalities which were
durable. The few who still remain in
| the hospitals developed into psy-
| Choses-cases of specific and serious
| mental InaladeS which require at the
! best long periods of treatment.
! CINCE the war a new type Of neu-
rosis has developed among vet.
Grams which is giving the psychia-
| trists considerable trouble-the com
pensation neurosis. In some way the
veteran gets the fixed idea that the
world owes him a living. and tenn
| porarily at least, loses his bearings
His monthly check from the Veterans
| Bureau becomes the hub of his life,
around which everything else revolves.
Some of these cases. it is likely, will
| develop into psychoses. Others will
be cured and the victims become en-
| tirely normal, at least until some new
occasion for a fixed idea confronts
| them.
There are few neurosis cases at ST.
| EliZabeth's. Most persons encounter
at some time in their lives a neurosis
of some sort. 1t is hardly avoidable
| among the complexities OF modern
| civilization and with q race of such
miXed-up heredity as the American.
| There are occasional individuals,
! however, who never quite cross the
border of insanity, but yet whose men,
| tai makeup is such that they consti-
! tute a continual danger to society, and
! one of the great problems of psychi-
| airy is in properly dealing with these
persons.
| DIR. William A. White. superintend-
ent Of st. Elizabeth's. gives a typical
example. The counsel for a local col
| ored murderer appealed to him to eX-
anime the man, in the hope that there
would be some evidence of insanity
which would save him from the gal
| lows.
II do not believe in capital punish.
ment," said DR.. White. II was willing
| to testify for the man if there was any
basis for such testimony. Yet my
examination showed that he could not
be classified as insane. BY accepted
| standards, he was normal.
| yet the mans record told a some
what different story. All his life he
had been a bad man. He had been
in other shooting and slashing scrapes.
When 1 had finished with this record
I was convinced that if hanging ever
was justified it was in this case.
"Yet society had had its warning.
1t knew this mans tendencies. True
! enough, he never had committed MUIR
der before, but most certainly he had
not scientifically directed his attacks
on his previous victims so that they
would not prove fatal. Society had
! left this man at liberty. with the great
! likelihood that some time or other he
would kill Therefore, was the respon-
/ sibility entirely his?
'My efforts in the mans behalf con-
sisted solely of raising this question
in court. They hanged him in spite
| OF me. Perhaps it was just as Well"