Evening star., 1927-05-19
DOCTORS DISCUSS
| NERVOUS DISEASES
Relationship Between Body
and Mind Keynote of Sec
tionaI Meeting.

There is close relationship be
kween body and mind which must be
taken into consideration by the gen
eral practitioner.
This was the keynote Of the open.
Ang meeting of the Nervous Diseas sc
Section OF the American Medical
Association at the Raleigh yesterday
AFTERNOON. Emotional stress, it was
brought out, may cause all the symp.
toms and pains of such an ailment as
appendicitis and even result in a
useless operation.
Merely living in the complicated
social system of today is responsible
flor increasing numbers of cases in
the general hospital, DIR. Groves B.
Smith, psychiatrist at the Henry Ford
Hospital in Detroit, told the section.
Tie declared that much of the psyche
analysis now praCticed is an attempt
to obtain from patients information
(which the old-fashioned family phySi-
tian, long a resident of the commun-
Sty, knew anyway.
Calls Idea Wrong.
The popular idea entertained by
many physicians that control of
nervous symptoms is a matter of
will power is a misconception, DIR.
Smith said. lie maintained that this
was one of the most potent causes of
Increasing nervous tension. The
.patient fixing his mind upon his Condi-
|tion in an effort TO conquer it, he eX-
Iplained. only increases the obseSSi0nS
(which have him in their power. The
ksolution Of the problems of the neu-
Arotic person. he said, lay in unhurried
examinations, humane understanding
ROf the social problems, and frank
lrecognition of the patients inability
sfo understand his own difficulties.
Severe headaches, said DR.. Smith,
may really be a sign of the inability
iSof the individual to meet the problems
Aof life and enlarged tonsils often are
ETblamed for ailments which actually
khave their origin in the emotional
Stress OF the patient.
Recommends Psychiatry.
The necessity of a working knowl-
ledge of psychiatry on the part of the
kgeneral practitioner was stressed by
ADr. Cornelius c. Wholey of Pittsburgh.
EThe physician, he said, often fears to
E6elve into pneuro-psychiatic condi-
Mons, with fatal results to the patient.
He referred particularly to the in
Afection-exhaustion psychosis in such
Hdiseases as pneumonia and typhoid
Never. When the patient becomes con-
Esdused, he said, it is a sign that toxic
Ikeffect has started on the brain, and an
EAmmediate cleansing-out process is
Unnecessary. Restlessness, terror, un-
Efeasonableness and fault-finding, he
EaRaid. are early signs of this condition
Fsand should warn the physician.
There are three types of nervous dis.
Tease. he said, which the doctor should
hH o,-1,v e,{n
EThe most important of these, he said,
~; general paresis. which in its early
Mntaces NAV be difficult to distinguish
lie ON hysteria, but which can be diff
E3arentiated by the fact that mental
and moral deterioration go on to-
! gether.
Business Is Neglected.
/ Neglect of business, carelessness in
kNY&ss and morals and general reversal
kO1 previous character, ne said, can
te accepted as very serious symptoms.
EAnother difference, it was pointed out,
Ms that the neurasthenia victim be-
Eomes depressed and constantly is
ADcinplaining. while the person in the
TAYcipient stages of general paresis
DA inclined to make light of his
Ma oubles Diagnosis should be made
ERith knee and elbow jerks and blood
.sts when these signs are first noted,
BE said.
| The second type described by DIR.
EMholey was dementia precoX, which
IAppears during adolescence. It's vic
IHlms are of two types-those boys
Land girls of a shrinking, sec1usive
mature, with high, uncompromising
tideas of morality and the exactly op-
lposte, bold, immoral type. Such per-
sons will complain of excruciating
pains, but show no signs of them.
They will give foolish explanations of
ktheir feelings, such as bubbles of gas
hin the head" or "decaying vital
Horgans." They laugh when they
Eshould cry and cry when they should
laugh.
Calmly Commit Crimes.
Such persons, DR.. Wholey said,
sometimes will commit calmly the
Emost atrocious crimes, which might
khave been prevented, if the family
Ephysician had recognized the symp.
htores in time.
/ The third type he described as the
| 'anXiety neurosis,'' which comes
EwIen the individual meets q situation
III life with which he cannot cope. II
results in the symptoms of serious
| organic distinctions. He told OF @
woman coming to q hospital with al
the symptoms of serious heart trouble
| for which there could be found no or