Author: Albert Abrams

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-11

Total Pages: 56

ISBN-13: 9781330036716

Excerpt from Nervous Breakdown: Its Concomitant Evils; Its Prevention and Cure, a Correct Technique of Living for Brain Workers There are many persons who suffer from obscure symptoms without any evident cause. Their enjoyments of pleasure and the comforts of life cease and they become indifferent to subjects which were formerly of interest to them. Presenting no evidence of ill-health, their relatives and friends are unsympathetic and suggest that the patient go to work or "throw off the imaginary feeling" or "use more will power." They run the gamut of physicians who, finding them healthy in appearance and physically sound, tell them "you are only nervous," "there is nothing the matter with you," and, after a desultory conversation, dismiss them with a prescription for a nerve tonic. There are physicians, but they are fortunately few, who are inclined to regard symptoms of a vague nature as imaginary, or that the individual thus suffering is a hypochondriac. Now the term hypochondriasis, as employed by the physician, means a groundless fear of disease which has no real existence, but exists only in the imagination of the patient. Imagination may be responsible for a few diseases, but I contend that an imagination which can create a disease is in itself not in a state of health. "No one can be a hypochondriac at pleasure," says Lavègne. These unfortunates are acutely susceptible to any imputation on the honesty of their statements and, fearing that none suffer as much as themselves, and obtaining no relief, they gradually sink into the "slough of despond." The heads of such patients never feel just right. Their sleep is disturbed and they feel depressed in the morning. Their memory becomes defective, and they apprehend a loss of reason. Sexual disturbances, indigestion and constipation supervene to add to their misery. They show less endurance and become irritable. There are no objective signs of their suffering, for their symptoms are wholly subjective. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.