CAUSES OF MENTAL BREAKDOWN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20315, 25 January 1928, Page 8

CAUSES OF MENTAL BREAKDOWN.

MINDS RUINED BY FEARS. UNNECESSARY ANXIETY. HEREDITY’S EXAGGERATED ROLE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 14. “ The sudden flaring up of acute mental disorder is often only the terminal manifestation of a long process of slow combustion, smouldering during a period of years. Before the established state appears, the primary cause may have long ceased, to be obvious; only its effects are apparent in the developed condition.” This is one of the conclusions reached by a sub-committee of the National Council for Mental Hygiene, whose fourth annual report is out. Dr W. A. Potts was chairman of the committee, and the view is expressed that in every case of mental disorder there are antecedent happenings no one of which is the cause, but all of which contribute. A last straw may be blamed as the exciting factor, but often wrongly because it might be the lightest straw of the whole bundle. The manifestations of mental disorder in childhood are protean and liable to be falsely attributed to physical causes. The help of the psychotherapist may be required to deal with such troubles of children as persistent day-dreaming, inattentiveness at school, apparent stupidity, headache, stammering, persistent and apparently inexplicable contrariness, night terrors, St. Vitus’ dance, cruel, vindictive, and criminal tendencies, and many other conditions. RESPONSIBILITIES. Full responsibility is attained at 21 when there is a demand also for concentration on the life's work, which should be so chosen as to give expression to the innate capacity. Many mental breakdowns occur when the prospect of marriage is imminent. In the forties increased responsibilities make heavier demands, while about SO there is a marked crisis for women and for some men. Those who pass any stage without responding properly to the demand naturally made upon them enter the next with a heavy handicap. Unless some satisfactory treatment is available the handicap becomes greater and greater until a breakdown is inevitable. As Professor Robertson has shown, the incidence of certifiable mental disorder begins at 15 and radily increases with advancing years. Fear of life, as ho says, is a great (actor in mental disease, and the longer dealing with this is deferred the greater the risk. It is the fear and not the conduct of life that is the dangerous factor, for although the incidence of certifiable mental disorder increases for a time as age advances, the incidence is much less among the married than the unmarried, a fact suggesting the inference that accepting all the responsibilities of life may bo the healthiest course, it is possible that some of the factors which eventually produce mental disorder are the same as those which prevent the individual from assuming the responsibilities of married life. WOMEN’S ANXIETY. Mental disturbances in women about 50 are due largely to unnecessary anxiety; many women expect to be ill at that time and are not disappointed. It is a mistake for women at the climacteric to look upon their lives as finished, and to imagine that impassable barriers are closing down on them. They should, above all, realise that they are more free than ever before to lead active vigorous lives, taking their places as mothers of the world rather than as mothers of a family. Sixty-five is the age at which many men are put on the retired list, and mental disorder in the late period of life may bo largely due to lack of interest in life. The man who gives up his life of work without having developed or maintained interests sufficient to give a real meaning to life runs a risk, especially •if he expects others to do for him work which ho ought to do for himself for many years longer. DRINKING. Education is the most important method of dealing with drinking to excess. All possible means must be taken to prevent the excessive consumption of alcohol bearing in mind that occasional alcoholic excess, or even the regular taking of alcohol, may be the scene of some psychological difficulty requiring skilled investigation and treatment. . . . It is not, however, only instruction in the value of temperance that is required, but education in the whole conduct of life. Taking alcohol is often the easiest way of escaping temporarily from the ordeal of life, the necessary adjustment for which the drinker will not, or does not. know how to effect. In the past the role of heredity as a factor in producing mental disorder has been exaggerated. While recognising fho great importance of heredity, much 'arm is done by unjustifiable fear. The m'staka may be made of concluding that an abnormal condition is inherited, when moi.o important factors are at work, such as faulty feeding during pregnancy or «n unwise upbringing. In some cases the dangerous factor is not so much the nereJitary link as the constant dread. The eugenic aspect of this problem however, is very important. In doubtful cases, therefore, advice should be sought rom some qualified authority m regard to the question of marriage.