The Science of the Mind 650 



the living mind. Further, it is said that to some extent they do so, 

 influencing the mental life even although we are not conscious of 

 the influence at work. In this way repressed tendencies are sup- 

 posed to get a partial satisfaction. 



5 

 Cases of Mental Disorders 



The records of medical men in their work connected with 

 nerve cases in military hospitals during the war has provided 

 much material for the study of abnormal psychology of this kind. 

 Cures of paralysis of various organs, of morbid obsessions, and 

 unreasonable fears have been recorded and described by respon- 

 sible members of the medical profession. The origin of many 

 mental troubles has been traced to repression of disturbing emo- 

 tional experiences, bygone and forgotten by the patient. The 

 recalling or revival of such lost memories of patients by medical 

 men skilled in psychopathology have, by clearing the mind of the 

 patient, enabled physicians to effect many striking cures of mental 

 disorder. 



The theory is that the bringing to light and the re-living of 

 the suppressed emotional experiences is a means of getting rid of 

 excessive emotion. The patient is enabled to assume a new atti- 

 tude towards them. By way of illustration we may give one 

 instance : 



The following case of the influence of forgotten experience 

 is described by Dr. W. H. Rivers in the Lancet, and we take this 

 excellent summary of it as given by Professor Valentine in his 

 Dreams and the Unconscious. 



It is the case of a young medical officer, who even before 

 the war had a horror of closed-in spaces, such as tunnels and 

 narrow cells. He would never travel by the tube railway, 

 and was seized with fear in a train which passed through a 

 tunnel. One can imagine his intense distress when on 

 entering a dug-out he was given a spade and told it was for 



