The science of self-mastery
Excerpt:
Since the appearance of The Physiology of Faith and Fear a few years ago, I have been importuned on many occasions to undertake the preparation of a work devoted more fully to concise and systematic directions regarding the treatment and management of the various "nervous states; " and this present volume represents my efforts to comply with this demand, which has been so insistent on the part of both the laity and the profession. Having dealt quite fully with the Physiological and Psychological phases of functional nervous disorders in the former work, this book will be almost exclusively devoted to an amplification of the therapeutics — the details of treatment and the practical management of the various neuroses, including a large group of " borderland " ailments such as alcoholism, migraine, chorea, etc.
The methods herein described are those practised in the daily management of these various " nervous disorders," whether met in the clinic, the hospital, or in the private consulting room; and in this connection, the author desires to reiterate a statement made in the preface of his former work, viz., that he makes no pretensions of being a professional psychotherapist — that his time and energies are largely devoted to other professional duties.
It was the experience of seeing so many " nervous " patients who had been neglected, operated upon, and otherwise mistreated, without being in the least helped; and the further experience of seeing a large number of these unfortunate sufferers more or less permanently cured at the hands of the numerous psychic cults and mind-cure "' isms," that led to the further study and examination of the science of psychotherapy, all of which culminated in the writing of The Physiology of Faith and Fear, and in the preparation of this volume.
It has been my experience that Neurasthenics get little help from simply reading a book through a single time; they should read and re-read — study — this book systematically, say one hour every day, until its teachings become a real part of their mental life. While I am greatly indebted to the psychotherapeutic literature of the day — from which I have freely drawn material for this volume — nevertheless, I desire, in a special manner, to acknowledge the help and inspiration which have come from the work and works of such original and pioneer workers as Janet, Forel, Prince, Breuer, and Dubois — men who have done so much to lead the way out from the older empiric and hypnotic notions of mind-cure into the vast and verdant pastures of modern suggestional and educational psychotherapeutic.
It is the Author's sincere hope that this work, whether falling accidentally into the hands of the laity — especially nervous sufferers — or whether put there by the physician, will contribute something definite to the emancipation of such sufferers from the tyranny of " nerves," the slavery of " worry," and the thraldom of " fear."
Download The science of self-mastery 27.5 MB PDF ebook