PART 3. MOOD DISTURBANCES 



THE "HEART" NEUROSES 



Three types of partly psychosomatic neuroses known to the Mohave 

 are designated by terms containing the word "heart" (hi:wa), pre- 

 smnably because the Mohave think of the heart not only as an organ, 

 but also as the seat of emotions. It may be suggested, in passing, 

 that the widespread, though not universal, tendency to think of the 

 heart as connected with the emotions may be due to the fact that 

 certain persons react to emotional stress with precordial anxiety, 

 tachycardia, and other disturbances of the cardiovascular system, 

 just as other people react to emotional stress, e. g., with disturbances 

 of the gastrointestinal tract." The occurrence of the latter reaction 

 pattern of the autonomous nervous system to emotional stress among 

 the Mohave is probably responsible for the fact that a series of 

 psychosomatic illnesses are grouped together under the general 

 heading of hiwey lak (anus pain) (pt. 4, pp. 150-175). 



A further attribute of the heart is conscience. Thus, the dictates 

 of a man's better self (ego-ideal, rather than super-ego) are denoted 

 by the term hi : wantc kinyai : m (heart does) or hi : wantc hidhu : m, 

 or hi : wantc haniym, all of which can be freely translated as "the 

 heart does" or "the heart says" or "the dictates of the heart" — i. e., 

 man's better nature. Since, unlike the Chinese (Devereux, 1944 a) 

 etc., the Mohave believe human nature to be good, rather than in- 

 herently corrupt, if one but listens to one's heart, one is impelled to 

 cio good deeds. Thus Case 101 shows that when a bewitched person 

 became ill, the victim's family immediately asked the witch to perform 

 a cure, because they hoped that the witch would yield to his hi : wantc 

 kinyai : m, i. e., that he would follow the dictates of his heart or 

 conscience. 



There appear to be three main types of "heart neuroses" — i. e., 

 three types of emotional stress to which people react, at least in 

 principle, with their hearts. Of course, in reality the cases cited did 



■" It may even be possible to classify various ethnic groups In terms of the particular 

 autonomous nervous system function (s) by means of which they react to emotional stress. 

 Thus, the Sedang Mol of Indochina (Devereux, MS., 1933-34) seem to react to stress 

 chiefly with the gastrointestinal tract, which may explain why they believe the liver to be 

 the seat of emotions. The Greek seem to have reacted to emotional stress in several ways ; 

 witness their theory of temperaments: Sanguine (cardiovascular), phlegmatic (= mucus, 

 respiratory tract, and mucous membrane reactions), melancholic (=black bile, gastro- 

 intestinal tract), and choleric (=yellow bile, gastrointestinal tract). 



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