Evening star., 1940-01-11
Of Sturs, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
Modern society may be suffering from
the social counterpart Of IAN almost in
conceivably terrible" mind disease.
The madness syndrome Of the era, of
which the outbreak Of violence charac-
| terized by the present war can be con-
sidered natural consequence, bears an
alarming similarity to schi5ophrenia.
sometimes translated as "soul splitting"
according to a pronouncement of psy-
chiatrists of the William A. White Psy-
chiatric Foundation here.
At the same time the foundation, which
includes some of the most eminent mind
doctors in the United States, announced
the appointment of committee for "the
formulation and execution of certain
measures looking to the more effective
utilization of psychiatry in the national
defense due to the implications Of the
world situation"
Schizophrenia, generally malady of
youth which allegedly is on the increase
in both Europe and America, is charac-
terized by a splitting Of the intelligence
and the emotions to the point where the
two seem to have no relation to each
other.
I'VE live in a world" says the pro-
nouncement Of the foundation Of which
Dr. Harry Stack Sullivan, professor of
psychiatry at Georgetown University is
president, "In which the techniques for
power have multiplied enormously. Man,
in his control over the physico-chemica
universe, almost surpasses the omnip
otent phantasies of any seer or prophet
of bygone times. 1t is one Of the traves-
ties of the passing epoch that the tech
nlques of beauty and goodness have kept
no pace at all with this almost explosive
progress. To the psychiatrists this is the
picture Of schizophrenia, but schizo-
phrenia almost inconceivably terrible be-
cause 1t is the grave mental disorder of
an epoch"
Schizophrenia most frequently appears
in late adolescence or early adult life.
Western culture itself Is in the same
Juvenile stage" the pronouncement
points out. 1t is the stage Of intensive
competition and active struggle for
power-the same phase which in the in
dividual life Immediately follows the pre-
adolescent years from 9 to 13 which are
filled chiefly with visions of the future.
In the individual the contrast OF the
two stages of life may be one Of the fac
tors in establishing the disease. One
manifestation Of schizophrenia is with
drawal from contact with the outside
world, full of trouble and unanswerable
problems, into a self-made world OF
dreams which becomes the true reality.
Out of this dream state the patient oc-
casionally emerges with explosive vio-
lence, and schizophrenia victims are likely
to be among the most dangerous OF all
the insane, although most of the time
they are oblivious to their surroundings.
This symptom Of withdrawal from the
troubles of the world, the psychiatric
pronouncement stresses, Is one to be
avoided If society would avoid sinking
deeper into the schizophrenic syndrome.
The individual dementia praecox patient.
1t says, can keep up his dream world
while he is fed and sheltered in an insane
hospital provided by the tax money of
his saner fellows. The earth provides
no such asylums for schizophrenic
nations.
ITO cultivate participation with
ones fellows" says the pronouncement
published in Psychiatry, official organ Of
the institute" is to pave the way to
fantastic analoges of paradise within
some sheltering asylum. Such refuge
from reality is not homologue OF repoSe.
It's realization is an anti-biologic coun-
terpart of death which includes pass
lively destructive aggression against an
already overburdened society. The citi-
zen who would have his state withdraw
from the world is generalizing-project-
ing on universal scale-a passively
destructive impulsion to which he has
come through personal Illustrations"
The pronouncement denies, from the
psychiatric standpoint, the oft-repeated
assertion that by standing entirely aside
II OAA eAAC 43uA OpCulA WuA VAAS SAAASCu 0eoeSo
may become the haven for the culture Of
the old world which may be destroyed.
Greatly as we feel imperiled by the
enormously one-sided accomplishment of
western culture in the realm Of power"
says the pronouncement, I'VE know that
there are impulses at work in many
people which will influence the direction
of the next great epoch. Our disquiet
arises from the possibility that we are
before the end of western culture. To
one who is alive to this threat Of the
current world situation there is no solace
in fantasies about building an asylum for
the culture itself
"The shadows followed Attila. Yet
there were islands inhabited by peoples
of the Greco-Roman world to which
no Hun voyaged. The Renaissance, how
ever, was not led by descendants Of these
untroubled citizens. They and their
culture vanished. Only tenuous thread
from the main body of western culture
reached through human vessels from its
first heyday to its rehabilitation"