MENTAL TROUBLE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 124, 28 May 1930, Page 9

MENTAL TROUBLE

ITS PHYSICAL" BASIS

BEST PREVENTIVE METHODS

MODERN TREATMENT

The best preventive of mental disorder is the cultivation of sound physical health, and the avoidance of all habits which would tend to undermine the natural resistant power of the nervous system. Dr. Theodore G. Gray, Director-Gcn-«ral of Mental Hospitals, was the speaker at the last weekly meeting of the Wellington branch of Toe H., when ho gave an interesting historical account of the development of mental hospitals from the earliest times to_ the present day, and' indicated his views as to the directions in which progress might be expected. After stating that he gladly accepted tho invitation to address Toe H, because he was strongly convinced that an increased public interest in, and sympathy •with, the mental hospitals would.be of the greatest benefit to those institutions, Dr. Gray said the modern view oi tasanity was not that mental disease •was a disease of the brain itself, bui that the functioning of the brain was disordered owing to one or a combination of abnormal conditions in the body itself. One of the principal functions of the brain was to enable the individual to adapt himself to the varying ' needs and conditions of his surroundings, and it was when from any cause ""Viis power of adaptation of self to surroundings was lost or defective that; tho person concerned was considered to j lie insane or mentally afflicted. A PHYSICAL BASIS. "It is of- the greatest importance tJ' t we should realise that there is no fundamental difference between disorder of the' mind and of the body," said Dr. Gray. "Practically every case of so-called mental disorder admitted into our mental hospitals is found to be suffering from some physical disability, and research is gradually revealing a physical basis for most abnormal mental manifestations. . In very recent times a great deal, for instance, has been found out about the relationship of our emotions of fear and anxiety to changes in certain glands of the body. "On tho other hand, we cannot have a physical illness or disease without some mental accompaniment. You all know of tho classical example of the irritability of the old gentleman with a gouty toe; few of us there are who have not experienced the 'blues' or depression which follows on influenza, and tho perennial hopefulness of the consumptive patient is well recognised. Persons suffering from the delirium of pneumonia or typhoid fever are for the tiiiie being much more acutely mentally disturbed than the majority of our persons in mental hospitals. It is only ■when the mental side of the picture is predominant over a long period or •when the mental symptoms arise ■in the absence of an obvious physical basis ;fchat we refer to the case as a mental one. . . ."INHERITED TENDENCY ONLY." "Many people experience great anxiety because they realise or have been told that their inheritance is not good, and it cannot be too strongly emphasised that diseases themselves are I'arely, if ever, inherited—all that is fiande'd down is the tendency. Tho fcest way to put it is that tho greater tho neurotic or other tendency is, the More care must bo taken ~to ■ .avoid stresses; the person Concerned'"caiindt iafford to take the same- risks as the person whose history shows no such tendency. "Of course, when all is said there is 380 one of us so constituted that we could withstand; any and all stresses and the implication of the old mens Sana in corpore sano still stands good. 3?he best preventive of mental disorder is the cultivation of sound physical health and tho avoidance of all habits which would tend to undermine the natural resistant power of the nervous Bystem. This is, of course, of relatively greater moment to those- in whom there is an inherited predisposition to jnental or nervous instability. It is impossible in the time at my Bisposal to enter into the various Stresses which if sufficiently strong, or if acting upon, an heritably weak organism can produce mental disease. ITho main ones are: (1) Poisons which fciay be introduced from (a) without the body, e.g., syphifes and alcohol, or from (b) within the body owing to faulty gland ■ action or digestive disturbances; (2) critical times of life, e.g., puberty, adolescence, old'age, child l>irth; (3) trauma or accident; (4) mental factors. "You will no doubt be astonished to learn that we have 6160 patients in the mental hospitals, and it will be agreed that although the number of insane in New Zealand is proportionately the same as in other countries, yet with our highly favoured conditions the numbers here should be less. The steadily growing population of our mental hospitals Ogives room for very considerable worry and anxiety, and the immensity of the problem will be recognised when I -tell you that the total net expenditure incurred last year in running our institutions was £303,299. EABLY TEEATMENT. " "To show the importance of early treatment I will just briefly describe our experience with voluntary boarders. Any person suffering from mental illness may bo received voluntarily into a mental hospital. This was first enacted in tho New Zealand Mental Defectives Act of 1911. The numbers bo applying have steadily increased, and during 1928 no less than 290, persons, or 23 per cent, of tho total admissions," came to us voluntarily. The percentage of recoveries amongst patients and voluntary boarders together was 35.9 per cent, calculated on the number of admissions.

"If we deal with committed patients alone the recovery rate was as low as 26.04. The tale with regard to voluntary boarders is very different, as no less than 68.6 of those who sought admission in this way were discharged •within 12 months.

"The significance of these figures lies in the fact that theso voluntary boarders generally have, a good -'insight' into the nature, and the causo of their symptoms. Those may consist of want of sleep, tired Nature's Sweet restorer, inability to concentrate on work, irritability, abnormal impulses or obsessions, or any one or more of theso danger signals which to those whose job it is to interpret them mean that tho account at the Bank of Health has been overdrawn.

"With a recognition of the significance of these apparently trivial disturbances of functional balance, the voluntary boarder willingly co-operates with the physician in his treatment; the perfect confidential relationship between patient and physician is established. Modern psychology recognises that certain mental diseases are -due to a, tendency to shirk facing the issues of life.and to indulge in day dreaming, and that if this habit is allowed to replace the active exercise of the intellectual functions mental regression takes place and results in the worse cases iv profound and incurable hebetude of mind. This condition is preventable if the case is taken in hand and dealt with efficiently in its early Stages before the day. dreaming habit ■fa confirmed, *?■