FEELING “BELOW PAR.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 708, 8 March 1933, Page 1

FEELING “BELOW PAR.”

Overwork Blamed for Modern Complaint. LONDON, March 2. The “ Daily Mail ”, commenting on the reference of the Prime Minister (Mr MacDonald) to himself as suffering from an “ invisible lack of health ”, says that this exactly describes a state of mind and body that is baffling many sufferers. There is something approaching a “ wave ” of this complaint throughout the country. Scores of leaders in every department of life are feeling “ below par ”, with the result that the waiting-rooms of Harley Street physicians are crowded with patients seeking an explanation and a cure. A psycho-therapist says that the complaint is due to the stress and strain of crisis. Politicians, industrialists and bankers are obliged to increase their expenditure of energy, leading to a nervous collapse. The state of the patient includes a curiously dull condition of the brain, producing absent-mindedness and the use of wrong words, which affect his work. Moreover, it is the first sign of an approaching breakdown. A Harley Street physician says that the disease is noticeable everywhere. There are hundreds of tired and listless people in the streets, with pallid faces, dull eyes and listless gait, suggesting that even amusement cannot be enjoyed, much less work, which, when well done, should bring a sense of elation and achievement.

The cause is partly inadequate diet, but is chiefly attributable to the lack of sunshine during the winter. The best remedy, he says, is artificial sunlight-