TALKS ON HEALTH

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 January 1928, Page 12

TALKS ON HEALTH

THE MENTALLY AFFECTED.

BY A FAMILY DOCTOR.

When a patient is discharged from a hospital for mental diseases the prevention of a relapse depends largely on the conduct of the relatives and friends. It is best to avoid all mention of the patient’s affliction; his life in the asylum should not be discussed; and, of course, all joking or gossip about his condition should be rigidly avoided. The sufferer must have plenty of nourishing food, so-that the brain can have a plentiful supply of rich blood ; and he must have plenty of sleep, Nature’s sweet restorer. Constipation should be guarded against, chiefly by diet and drinking water and daily walking exercise; not by drugs. Sleeplessness is a bad sign, and if it occurs a medical man should be consulted at once. All worry and anoy - ance should be spared the patient; unnecessary cares should never be placed on his shoulders. He needs kindness, patience and forbearance. His surroundings should be bright and cheerful. If his bedroom window overlooks a burying ground he should change his residence. At the first sign of eccentric conduct a medical man should be seen. The sooner remedial measures are taken the sooner will the patient be well. Although he may not be able to return to business, he should be encouraged to take up hobbies; gardening, wood-carving, photography—anything that will keep his brain pleasantly occupied; he must jiot be allowed to brood in silence. Alcoholic liquors should be forbidden; alcohol inflames the brain. There is no reason why a man should not recover from an attack of mental disease just as he does from pneumonia; but he must learn his lesson. If the life he led brought on a mental breakdown, he must not return to his old ways. Late nights, insufficient food, rush and hurry, failing strength artificially buoyed up by frequent draughts of spirits, working too late, and taking no holidays—all these things lead to overburdening of the brain and nervous system.

CHANGE OF OCCUPATION. A change of occupation may be necessary. An outdoor life may be the means of saving a man from misery; no man should be asked to spend all his days in an office with insufficient light and ventilation. If after two or three breakdowns it is established beyond all doubts that the man has an unstable nervous system, he should be dissuaded from marrying; unfortunaely, he is just the sort of man to undertake a rash step without heed to the future. In looking through the records of the patients admitted to hospitals for mental diseases, it is a striking fact to find the word /‘heredity” occurring over and over again. In the eyes of the.law it is not a crime to bring into the world a string of children tainted with hereditary weakness; but in the eyes of all decent people it ought to be regarded as a grave offence. Public opinion is rotten on the subject. This is a Land of Liberty, and the lunatic claims the right to exercise his liberty propagating children destined tp fill our asylums. It is quite hard enough work dealing with the asylums as it is ; we do not want a stream of defective children pouring into the world every week.

NATURE THE HEALER. I like to remind you occasionally of the curative power of Nature. I was taught in my earliest youth that my duty as a doctor was to place the patient in as favourable a position jis possible to allow Nature to .perform Ehe cure. Nature does the work and I take the fee. I get the credit, and I always take it with a smile on my face because I get a good deal of unjust blame, and I reckon that the blame and the praise cancel each other. But to return to this curative power of Nature. No one knows about it except you and me, dear reader. The most extravagant claims are made for methods of treatment which have no curative value at all; 'they depend, one and all, on the curative power of Nature.

MOTHER’S KISSES. Take as an instance a cut finger. It is very wonderful to watch how each tiny particle of flesh and skin grows into its place until the wound is soundly healed. Nature is very clever. But what happens in this funny old world of ours? Old Mrs Bloggins makes an ointment of lard, spiders’ webs, honey, and hartshorn, and swears that the finger* would never have got well without it. The little Japanese maiden sits before the shrine

of the goddess of healing and calls the attention of the goddess by tinkling a bell; she knows that-her finger would never have healed unless the bell had .been tinkled. Dear old Farmer Chawbacon puts on a poultice of cow. s-dung, says his grandmother taught him that,

and it had never been known to fail. The Christian scientist sits up all night reading Mrs Eddy, and, sure enough, there is no getting away from it, the finger does heal; Mrs Eddy does look after her disciples. The tiny tot firmly believes that mother’s kisses make the place better. That is the most sensible view of all ; the tiny tot has more sense than a whole university of professors. Of course,'mother’s kisses heal. I hope my own mother can see me writing this.