W.E.A.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23517, 3 June 1938, Page 7

W.E.A.

PSYCHOLOGY CLASS “NERVES” AND THEIR SYMPTOMS A lecture on “Nerves” was delivered recently to the W.E.A. Psychology Class by Mr C. G. F. Simkin, this- being the sixth address in a series of talks on abnormal psychology. “A very common type of mild neurotic condition,” said Mr Simkin, “ is that which is called ‘ nerves ’ in everyday speech. A typical case of ‘ nerves ’ is the middle-aged woman who complains of general nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, bad digestion, worry over trifles, lack of energy, etc. The dominating emotional mood seems to be one of vague anxiety and restlessness. Anxiety is one of the prospective emotions of desire, and is apt to dominate consciousness whenever some strong instinctive disposition is threatened with frustration. In its intenser forms it combines with the emotion of fear, due to the frustration of the instinct of escape or its allied tendencies. In such a case, tremor is common. If the workings of the instinct of escape are strongly frustrated, either in oneself or in others to whom the sentiment of self-re-gard has been extended, the repressed emotions of fear and anxiety are peculiarly apt to give rise to a quasi-permanent mood of vaguely fearful anxiety. Cases of this sort are very common, and the great majority seem to be caused by interference with the primitive instinct of flight. The most potent causes of obstruction of this instinct are fears of poverty, unemployment,, and illness in civil life. Here the individual feels powerless to escape, so that anxiety and fear are aroused. In anxiety states the mood has become chronic, but while the frustration of the instinct of escape is the main single cause of ‘nerves, the obstruction of any strong in-stinctive-emotional tendency is liable to generate this condition. The condition depends for its relief upon finding some outlet for the repressed emotion. Often the revival of memory of the circumstances leading to the repression is enough, accompanied by opportunities for the individual to talk freely about it. “We have seen,” he continued, “ that the various primary emotions often have bodily expressions. we can often tell what emotion is aroused by the bodily behaviour—the young child turns away his head and screws up his nose at food which he dislikes, at fpod 'which arouses the emotion of disgust. And on the other hand there are definite specific bodily accompaniments to emotions—a man may sweat when

he is afraid, or his face grow red with anger. In cases where a strong emotion fails to find an outlet in successful behaviour—where an instinct is blocked—strange habits of action may develop. For instance, a man with a guilt complex may take to washing his hands seyeral times a day unnecessarily. This action is a symbolic attempt to represent guilt and wash it away, A girl on hearing that her young man had become engaged to another woman was unable to walk forward, but only backwards. This symbolised her inability to go forward on the course she desired. Abnormal sweating, blushing, watering of the eyes, disturbances of respiration, the heart and the bowels, etc., may be interpreted in a similar way.’ '* Tics,” another symptom of nerves, were brief spasmodic movements which recurred automatically, Mr Simkin explained. There was no hard and fast line between “ tics ” and symbolic symptoms. Tics were of mental origin, and were most pronounced when the patient was excited. They were usually the repetition of some fragment of behaviour in which the blocked emotion tended to express itself. An example was the case of a soldier who received a bullet in the head in a moment of rage. Afterwards whenever he attempted to eat he suffered

spasms in the jaw and throat muscles | which resulted in an appearance of „ rage. When the memory of this. . event was revived by hypnotism th® “ tic ” vanished. Some of these symp-;; ; toms were the result of physiologi- ' cal habits due to organic disease, such as limping after spinal megingitis. , 1 . }■; The evening closed with an in- 1 structive discussion oil various phases of the lecture, and the recounting of some experiences relative to various nervous conditions suffered by members of the class; - gave a practical turn to the lecture. :.