Article July 9, 1910 Issue

Many diseases, especially those which are termed obscure,...

Health

Many diseases, especially those which are termed obscure, may, and doubtless do, have their origin in the mind. Fear has a marked physiological effect upon the vital processes, as shown by the pathological results produced by it. Now by fear we do not necessarily mean that condition of mental disturbance produced by imminent danger, or the appearance of some supposedly supernatural object, but that condition which is even more to be dreaded, namely, morbid apprehension—worry. Fear might, therefore, be classified in the same manner as diseases, acute and chronic; and, even as chronic diseases are the more difficult to deal with, so is chronic fear the hardest to counteract.

It is the generally accepted belief that the wide prevalence of nervous disorders among the American people is the result of their improper dietary habits and their devotion to social functions, but while this may be, and doubtless is, a largely contributing cause, it is more than probable that the chief cause is to be found in what we have termed chronic fear or worry. Men, above the reach of want, torment themselves about business; many women have not sufficient occupation to keep morbid thoughts at a distance, while the great majority are perpetually dwelling upon the problem of how to provide support for their families.

Thus we see that fear, by destroying the equilibrium, inevitably causes that deviation from the normal which constitutes disease, although its destructive possibilities cannot be fully estimated; but having once recognized it as a powerful causative factor, it behooves us to oppose it by its antithesis, faith. Fear represents the metabolic, or destructive process; faith, the katabolic, or building up process. Faith is an essential part of all treatment, but it is not to be regarded as a blind dependence upon some unknown quantity. Faith is the absolute conviction of a truth.

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Many diseases, especially those which are termed obscure,...

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