WAR NERVES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11505, 29 September 1915, Page 4

WAR NERVES.

HOW TO CONTROL ANT> CURE THEM. "It is incumbent upon all of us at present to set a strict guard upon our health, more especially m the direction) of self-control. We are all in danger of becoming ten years older at a bound under the tension of tho war." In these words an eminent Harley Street physician and psychologist addressed a warning to those suffering from " war time nerves." He acknowledged with a smile that the warning ought to be applied to himself, for doctors are much like other people during a world-wide convulsion like tho present. " Medically speaking," he said, " none of us is able at present to avoid increased arterial pressure. More than once latclv I have tested my blood pressure, and I have invariably found it to be dangerously high; higher than I could have imagined it to be. This proves that I am afflicted ly"Scores of people come to me weekly suffering from this complaint, though in normal times their symptoms might sT-Test other trouble. They confess to me til at the war is never off tiMr minds, awake or and as a rule they experience fits of depression which cannot H° shaken off. "Parents and relatives of men at tho front are passing through a severe ordeal, and it is ; of course, difficult to prescribe in their case beyond urging upon them the need for quiet, patriotic resignation, supported by the knowledge that many others are in the same position as themselves, and all are doing a great service for their country. "The spirit of optimism should be encouraged and cultivated. By optimism 1 do not mean careless coeksurenees. " No good can come of public pessimism. We will wiu through all right, and any day some very welcome news may come over. No cheer has yet been raised in the streets of London since the war broke out. How very different from the Boer war! But men and women must not be afraid to be cheerful and to look cheerful. "I am speaking as a family physician, and every doctor wi'D bear me out when I say that pessimism is poison to the blood and brain. " Have you noticed how prone the public have been recently to exaggeration? A story* once started grew out of all recognition in an hour. Honest, truthful, respectable people—in ordinary times, I mean—became absolutely untrustworthy, despite the most fervent asseverations of their veracity. " ' Increased arterial pressure.' That was their trouble. They were not really responsible for their utterances. Their centre of gravity had been hopelessly dislocated."