V J
Militant groups everywhere ' v
are joining the attack,
and men of science foresee
a breakthrough before long.
'4
) i
3
The All-Cut War ori Mental
illlllll.
"Talking out" a problem with a therapist regains
one of the basic treatments for mental illness.
by Howard Earle
I n Chicago recently, a young man raced about the city
stabbing people at random with a long
bladed knife. He injured six persons the after
noon of his arrest. Questioned by, police, he told
them, "I'm doing humanity a service."
In a small college for women in the Southwest,
Rosemary was regarded by her classmates as "stuck
up." She kept to herself so much of the time, her
withdrawal developed into complete isolation. One
morning she failed to heed the breakfast call, and
gave incoherent replies to all questions.
For 24' hours Rosemary refused to eat or move a
muscle. Officials rushed her to the hospital and sent
for her parents. She didn't recognize them.
In a small town in upper New York, a young
woman received word one morning that her husband,
their three children, and her mother had been killed
in an automobile accident. She passed instantly into
a dreamy state of semiconsciousness. She went on
making their beds, setting their places at the- table,
and continuing life as though they were still alive.
It wasn't until many months later, after she had
reconciled herself to her tragic. loss, that she awoke
from her dreamlike state and began to recover.
The Chicago stabber, Rosemary, and the housewife
had one thing in common: they were all mentaUy ill.
But there is new hope today for people like these,
because of the all-out war being waged on many
fronts against mental illness. From hospital wards,
research laboratories, and pharmaceutical houses;
from psychiatrists and other men of science, there
come encouraging predictions for the future.
The concentrated attack of all these forces is
against the most common cause of disability in the
nation today.
Some 16 million people in the United States almost
one out of every ten persons suffer from emotional
disturbances and mental illness. More than 250,000
mentally ill were admitted to institutions for the first
time this year; another 100,000 former mental patients
were readmitted after relapses.
More than three-quarters of a million people are
receiving care in mental hospitals. This is as many
patients as are hospitalized on any one day for all
other diseases combined! And there are many times
that number in need of mental therapy.
Each year, care for mental patients costs Americans
$1 billion in taxes. In the same period, $4 billion in
potential earnings are lost by patients who enter
mental hospitals for the first time.
But the future for the mentally ill is not as dark
as these gloomy figures predict. The National Associa
tions for Mental Health, a leading organization in the
battle against mental illness, takes an optimistic
viewpoint. It holds that through advances in diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention, mental and emotional
disturbances are being handled with increased
effectiveness. It feels even greater progress can be
expected when the public fully accepts thfise disturb
ances as simply a form of illness.
Some of the early stages of mental disorders are
caused by tensions which beset everyone. It is
important that we learn as much as possible about
mental illness so we can recognize mental and
Family Weekly, Drct'tiiluT ?!, 1957
O
'f
Tools like this brain-wave test offer added hope.
Illness
' iiiMl M
Occupational therapy has proved helpful, too.
- HOW TO BEAT TENSIONS
.''.' ..'...'..:".. ........ .: .-. ' '" .l"f--
Dr. George S. Stevenson, medical consultant for
the National Association or Mental Health, Inc.,
says people are not necessarily ill because they
are occasionally tense and anxious. Everyone
experiences tensions, says Dr. Stevenson, who
suggests the following ways to deal with them:
, Talk it out when something worries you.
Work off your anger by doing something
constructive. . . ,
If you are worrying too much about yourself,
try doing something for someone else.
Don't try to be a superman. .' ,.
-. Don't expect others to be supermen.
' For a free booklet, "How to Deal with Your
Tensions," write Better Mental Health, Dept. FW,
Box 2500, New York 1, N.Y.
emotional disorders in ourselves and those close to
us and help prevent them from becoming worse.
Equally important, we should know where we can
go to find expert help.
Mental illness may be classified in two broad
categories: organic and functional. Organic may be
defined as a mental illness due to bodily disorder.
A number of infectious diseases may produce organic
mental illness, just as some accidents may bring about
organic psychosis through injury to the brain.
Organic mental illness may be broken down into
acute and chronic. Acute may be demonstrated by
the drinker who suffers delirium tremens after too
many bouts with John Barleycorn. Should these
bouts continue and severe cases of delirium tremens
result, the condition could develop into chronic mental
deterioration with demonstrable brain damage.
Conversely, functional mental disorders are those
in which there is no discernible bodily disorder.
Just where schizophrenia belongs whether organic
or functional is a matter of diverse opinion even
among mental-health specialists. But the specialists
agree that more than half of all people now in mental
hospitals are schizophrenics. The public has come to
accept the term schizophrenia as meaning a split
mind, but the illness goes much deeper than this.
Actually, there are four different types of schizo
phrenics, and sometimes a patient will exhibit be
haviorisms from two or more of the types. Other
patients may demonstrate no discernible trend other
than temporary delusions.
Schizophrenia and other mental illnesses have be
come the nation's number-one health problem and
have led scientists into an all-out hunt for a cure.
Since 1954 that search has been aided by an ever
increasing number of drugs called tranquilizers.
These drugs have quieted the most disturbed wards,
turning many agitated, aggressive patients into
amenable ones. But the tranquilizers are far from a
final cure. Many patients, especially those severely
depressed, respond better to insulin and electro-shock
therapy. Others will respond only to psychotherapy.
Many experts hold that no physical treatment can
have lasting effect unless accompanied by psycho
therapy and that the tranquilizer cures nothing in
itself. It merely calms the patient, these experts say,
and brings him back to reality so that he can talk
out his problems with the psychiatrist.
What powerful tranquilizers do for the seriously
ill, milder tranquilizers do for the neurotic and
overwrought. There is danger, however, in the con
tinued use of tranquilizers for minor disorders.
Doctors warn that they can divert the patient from
solving his basic emotional problem.
The search, however, does not stop with tran
quilizers. From Europe comes word of a new drug
called Suavitil which, so far, shows no signs of being
habit-forming. It is said to hold promise in the
treatment of mental disorders which fail to respond
to tranquilizers. The drug reportedly reduces tension,
anxiety, and depression.
The number of drugs under research is unlimited,
and new ones are being tested daily in the battle
against mental illness. In addition, intensive research
is under way to determine if there is any relationship
between disorders of the body's metabolism and
mental disorders.
A Tulane University research team has induced
schizophrenic behavior in normal individuals by in
jecting doses of taraxien, a chemical substance found
in the blood of schizophrenics. Two to ten minutes
after the injection, signs of schizophrenia developed.
The larger the dose, the more intense the reaction.
Some scientists say these tests may support the theory
that mental disease is of biochemical origin.
A nother study of the relationship between body
chemistry and mental illness suggests that a
substance in the brain called serotonin is essen
tial for proper mental health. A serotonin deficiency,
researchers said, was found in all schizophrenics ex
amined by them, indicating that serotonin plays an
extremely important part in keeping us mentally
balanced. Reseat h now is looking for ways to build
up the serotonin supply where a deficiency exists.
Relatively new in mental therapy is the now
recognized fact that mental patients show improve
ment when treated in community meetings.
At the U. S. Naval Base in Oakland, Calif., a
"therapeutic community" was introduced into a
receiving ward of a psychiatric treatment center.
Seclusion rooms were discontinued, physical restraints
were banned, and soothing injections and barbiturates
were reduced drastically. Instead of putting a patient
in a quiet room, he was placed with a group. There
the mentally ill talked to one another in a way a
doctor probably never could talk to them and while
they talked, the doctors listened.
Group activities have been found highly effective
in strengthening the patient's ego so he no longer
retreats from reality but learns to cope with it.
Occupational therapy in groups has been well es
tablished as another means of aiding the mentally ill
in recovering reality through mediums of expression.
Modeled clay, a wax figure, or a pencil sketch often
reveals more about delusions than a million words.
Another ally in the all-out attack on mental illness
is religion, with clergymen throughout the country
enlisting in the battle. In some cities, ministerial
associations are taking group courses to help them
understand causes and remedies for family problems
which often lead to mental disorders.
No one is predicting a victory tomorrow or next
week. But hope for the future is brighter than ever.
Men of science who are in a position to know say a
breakthrough against mental illness is not far off.
Family Weekly, December 29, 1957