Evening star., 1939-01-03
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

Madness-just the removal OF the mask
. sane person wears.
Such is the case, at least In some
instances, according to DR.. J. McF1e
Campbell Of Boston, summing up the
symposium on mental health conducted
by the American Association for the
Advancement Of Science ut Richmond
last week.
The insane person, he said, may be
Just oneself with the false face OF per-
sonality removed, revealing the con-
torted features underneath.
1T is well for us to get rid Of the ira
ditional attitude" DR.. Campbell SAID,
that places such a wide gap between the
so-called normal and the mentally dis
ordered. Normality consists IN the
ability to maintain a conventional sur
face so that our neighbors, perhaps we
ourselves, do not have insight into the
underlying forces at the bases OF our
moods, our interests our behavior, our
code of values, our attitude toward the
universe In those with mental dis
orders of a certain degree OF severity the
conventional surface is disturbed and
one sees revealed the processes OF human
nature. The modification OF the con-
ventional surface, the change or dis
tortion of the perSonality-end remem-
Der that personality was mask put on
by the actor-repels us intuitively, as do
oth n
we do not penetrate beneath the mask
we remain repelled.
I'VE do well, however, as in cases OF
ulcers, wounds, leaking hearts and
faulty lungs to 60 beneath the surface.
when one, interested in the sick
person, studies the offensive ulcer, the
impaired circulation or respiration, and
passes beneath the conventional surface
Of disease one is plunged into a dynamic
problem Of the utmost complexity. Of the
greatest fascination. One finds revealed
the subtle capacities Of living material,
dealing with stresses of the most varied
description, and becomes lost in the
absorbing study of the forces involved.
Pathologist and clinician alike are apt
to talk in terms of esthetic rapture
about the unusual beauty Of material
which to the uninitiated is displeasing
and offensive. The intuitive reaction to
the morbid and unusual is of brief dura-
ton in presence of curiosity as to the
processes at work, the eager hunt for
general underlying principles.
If this is so in the face OF bodily all
ments, it is equally true with regard to
disorders of the personality. Eager in
vestigation replaces distaste and avoid
ance
With this new attitude, instead Of
seeing a human wreck, alien and un-
intelligible, separated from us by that
abyss which is conventionally supposed
to separate the sane from the insane, we
now see fellow-being with a pathetic
history which moves us like a Greek
tragedy. The story is that of an in
dividual human destiny; it is the story of
our common human nature dealing with
the familiar issues Of human life. The
patient comes very near to us; the story
in many Of its phases is our own
Thus the desire to understand, the
going beneath appearances, the tracing
OF the underlying forces of our human
nature brings about an attitude to a
patient or to our fellows which is in
striking contrast with our intuitive reac-
ton which We may have taken no pains
to correct. A psychiatrist may have a
very vivid realization of such a change
OF attitude toward an acquaintance. The
latter considered as q social acquaint-
ance may appear insupportable; as a
patient with human problem he be-
comes fellow being Of value who strikes
sympathetic note. If the psychiatrist
could only maintain toward his ac-
quaintances and colleagues the same
attitude as toward his patients he would
be model of tolerance and patience
Ones fellowmen, however, in presence of
a psychiatrist are apt to be rather un-
comfortable, feel that they are being
scrutinized as patients and thus are
vaguely uneasy. They do not realize that
II a psychiatrist looks on them with the
same attitude as he looks on his patients.
1t is because he looks on his patients as
fellow mortals, of the same stuff as him
self, facing the same human problems as
himself, only making rather heavy
weather of the actual life situation"
Motorists Already Controlled,
Says WeSterner.