Page 5 - Palmer_Yearbook_1943
P. 5
The R e c o i l 1 9 4 3
BACK STAGE EVIDENCE ON A
FRONT PAGE STORY
By HERBERT C. HENDER. D.C., Ph.C.
(Chief Psychiatrist Clear View Sanitarium)
•
FO R a number of years it has been my privilege to work in a world of make
believe. D uring these years, I ’ve been back-stage as it were, witnessing the
enactment of a strange, unending play— a play containing all the elements of
tragedy, pathos, humor, excitement and danger.
The actors have been strange people, playing sometimes weird roles. T hey moan,
laugh, scream, curse and behave in the most unpredictable fashion. T h ey smile mys
teriously. They talk to people who do not exist— about things which have never
happened. T hey listen to voices and sounds coming in over invisible wires. T hey
stop up key holes to prevent the entrance o f poisonous gasses. Th ey tell you they
are Caesar, Napoleon— God. They tell you the world will end soon. They shadow-
box with imaginary enemies. They tell you o f cunning schemes to kill them. They
promise you cool millions because you have been good to them.
These are the players in the strange dramas being enacted on the stages o f hun
dreds of mental hospitals. These people are sometimes kind, friendly, even lovable.
But vicious or kindly, they are all pitiable and deserving of far more than we of
society have been willing to give them.
World of Unrealities
One o f my patients sends— or at least thinks he sends— from fifteen to one hun
dred telegrams to the President each day. He changes the direction of smoke and
the wind at will. It is his sole responsibility to save the world. H e is a paranoiac.
One of our patients who has never been married, but who unconsciously desires
to be, told a visiting minister that her name was M rs. Smith, that she had seven chil
dren and a fine hard-working husband— all o f which mystified the good gentleman
very much. She is a dementia praecox.
A short time ago we witnessed a girl in convulsive laughter over the news of
the death of her mother whom she had once dearly loved. She is a schizophreniac.
W e have patients in our hospital who have committed unpardonable sins. T h ey
are, for the most part, melancholiacs.
These are the frankly insane cases— those cases which must be incarcerated in
institutions, for their own good and for the protection o f society.
W e have found them very human in their own ways . . . made friends with
them . . . found that very few need be feared. Humor them like you would
children.
All Have Subluxations
W e have not found one in thousands, who did not have a subluxation. W e
have found that most every one is benefited, if not completely restored to health, by
page three
BACK STAGE EVIDENCE ON A
FRONT PAGE STORY
By HERBERT C. HENDER. D.C., Ph.C.
(Chief Psychiatrist Clear View Sanitarium)
•
FO R a number of years it has been my privilege to work in a world of make
believe. D uring these years, I ’ve been back-stage as it were, witnessing the
enactment of a strange, unending play— a play containing all the elements of
tragedy, pathos, humor, excitement and danger.
The actors have been strange people, playing sometimes weird roles. T hey moan,
laugh, scream, curse and behave in the most unpredictable fashion. T h ey smile mys
teriously. They talk to people who do not exist— about things which have never
happened. T hey listen to voices and sounds coming in over invisible wires. T hey
stop up key holes to prevent the entrance o f poisonous gasses. Th ey tell you they
are Caesar, Napoleon— God. They tell you the world will end soon. They shadow-
box with imaginary enemies. They tell you o f cunning schemes to kill them. They
promise you cool millions because you have been good to them.
These are the players in the strange dramas being enacted on the stages o f hun
dreds of mental hospitals. These people are sometimes kind, friendly, even lovable.
But vicious or kindly, they are all pitiable and deserving of far more than we of
society have been willing to give them.
World of Unrealities
One o f my patients sends— or at least thinks he sends— from fifteen to one hun
dred telegrams to the President each day. He changes the direction of smoke and
the wind at will. It is his sole responsibility to save the world. H e is a paranoiac.
One of our patients who has never been married, but who unconsciously desires
to be, told a visiting minister that her name was M rs. Smith, that she had seven chil
dren and a fine hard-working husband— all o f which mystified the good gentleman
very much. She is a dementia praecox.
A short time ago we witnessed a girl in convulsive laughter over the news of
the death of her mother whom she had once dearly loved. She is a schizophreniac.
W e have patients in our hospital who have committed unpardonable sins. T h ey
are, for the most part, melancholiacs.
These are the frankly insane cases— those cases which must be incarcerated in
institutions, for their own good and for the protection o f society.
W e have found them very human in their own ways . . . made friends with
them . . . found that very few need be feared. Humor them like you would
children.
All Have Subluxations
W e have not found one in thousands, who did not have a subluxation. W e
have found that most every one is benefited, if not completely restored to health, by
page three
