368 



Cojistant 



possible find a hobby that includes other 

 persons, both boys and girls. 



3. Develop friendships with boys and 

 girls. Your joy in friendship will be great 

 if you are thoughtful and generous and 

 understanding with your friends. 



4. Do your school work to the best 

 of your ability; work hard at it so that 

 you can get the satisfaction of knowing 

 that you are doing your best in your 

 most important job. 



5. Try yourself out in a new field or 

 in new tasks of increasing difficulty. You 

 may fail from time to time but with each 

 success you will have a new sense of 

 power, of independence, and of maturity. 

 This will help you achieve mental health. 



Mental illness. An expert on mental ill- 

 ness is called a psychiatrist (sy-kye'a- 

 trist). He is a physician, an M.D. You 

 should distinguish between a psychia- 

 trist and a psychologist. A psychologist 

 is interested in the workings of the mind 

 and in behavior in general. Psychologists 

 are not physicians and, therefore, cannot 

 treat mental illness, nor are they quali- 

 fied, in general, to discover mental illness. 

 There is much misunderstanding about 

 mental illness; let us attempt to clear up 

 some of it. 



People frequently use the word insan- 

 ity to describe severe mental illness. 

 Since there are several kinds of severe 

 mental illness psychiatrists prefer not to 

 use the word insanity because it is not 

 definite enough. Besides, most mental 

 illness is not severe, and insanity is alto- 

 gether the wrong word for such condi- 

 tions. Psychiatrists believe a great deal 

 of mental illness is a result of emotional 

 disturbance and they use the word neu- 

 rosis to describe it. 



Care Is Needed for Health unit vi 



Of course, the only sensible action to 

 take if you or any member of your 

 family seems to suffer from an emotional 

 disturbance that is long continued is to 

 visit a psychiatrist for diagnosis. Since 

 this is an illness it needs medical atten- 

 tion. Sensible people no longer have the 

 foolish attitude that mental illness is 

 something to be ashamed of. No one is 

 ashamed of having heart disease or ap- 

 pendicitis; no informed person, nowa- 

 days, is ashamed of having a mental 

 illness. 



You have probably heard people com- 

 ment on the fact that someone is insane 

 because he inherited insanity from one 

 of his parents or grandparents. When 

 you study heredity you will understand 

 that heredity is so complex that such 

 statements cannot be accurate. 



Common worries of young people. It 

 is quite common for young people to be 

 concerned about their mental health. 

 Usually, their concern is unfounded. 

 Well-informed parents, teachers and pas- 

 tors can do much to relieve this anxiet^^ 

 The "bull session" in which boys or girls 

 exchange confidences often serves a use- 

 ful purpose in convincing them that their 

 "difficulties" are normal and usual. They 

 can often learn, also, how other people 

 have overcome these difficulties. 



It is quite common also for young 

 people to worry unnecessarily about 

 daydreaming. All of us daydream, 

 especially when we are young. There are 

 times when it is particularly satisfying to 

 think of ourselves as most handsome, 

 bright, charming, rich, and successful. 

 We may think of ourselves as great 

 heroes or as saints suffering great wrongs. 

 We often do so after we have failed in 



