THE NERVOUS HANDICAP.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21264, 19 February 1931, Page 16

THE NERVOUS HANDICAP.

MANAGERS HARD TO FIND. Fears in general—fears of the dark, of an interview with one’s employers, of noise and traffic, of being alone, and of personal ability—from the subject matter of “ The Nervous Temperament,” a report of the Industrial Health Research Board undertaken by Dr Millais Culpin and Dr May Smith, and published by his Majesty’s Stationery Office. More than 1000 persons, ranging from the office boy to the director, and including clerical workers, factory workers, people in administrative posts, and students of both sexes, have been tested. The “nervous type,” it is stated, is not confined to any one group of workers, though students (in this case prospective architects, teachers, and actors) give the highest percentage of nervous people. There was little difference between the sexes. In people holding positions of authority 70 per cent, of those tested had slight or absent nervous symptoms. A real capacity for directing others proved rare. Heads of firms stated that one of their chief difficulties was to get people who could manage subordinates well. As regards contentment with work, a higher percentage of nervous people are dissatisfied than those who are not nervous. As to symptoms when a person is asked to see his chief, “A” may be mildly apprehensive, “B ” experience interested wonder, “C ” feel shaky at the knees, “D ” prepare for the most improbable worst, “ E ” feel that he has done something wrong, and “F" feel all right if he has done something wrong, and knows what it is, but apprehensive if innocent. Then there was the person who was never sure that he was right, with whom any challenge would immediately cause doubts to arise; and at the other end was the person who was as irrationally sure he could not be wrong. He dared not let himself be wrong. In some people there was an irrational inability to consider a piece of work finished, in spite of the fact that it had been done with meticulous accuracy. “ Some are afflicted with doubts after they_ have done a trivial action, such as turning off a light, locking a door, and so on, and are compelled to go back and verify it, even though they know the act has been done. “This has been described as ‘le sentiment d’incompletude.’ It is perhaps expressed by the words ‘a feeling of left undone.’ “ The ‘ sentiment d’incompletude ’ may cause such indecision and distress that it constitutes the main factor in a breakdown, while fears of traffic, of solitude, of crowds, of open or closed spaces, may deprive life of its usefulness.” Tests with regard to fear showed that while that of the dark was commoner among women than men, other fears were found in similar distribution in both sexes and in different occupations.