EPILEPSY, HYSTERIA, AND NEURASTHENIA

THEIR CAUSES, SYMPTOMS, & TREATMENT

WEBMASTER'S NOTE: This work is presented for historical interest and subject background only. Many of the conclusions, attitudes, and treatments discussed here are those of an "expert" of another era, many of which have been overturned by science or are not acceptable in today's world.

[pg 109]

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CHAPTER XXII

DANGERS AT AND AFTER PUBERTY

"Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame

Is lust in action; and till action, Lust

Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,

Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;

Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight;

Past reason hunted; and, no sooner had,

Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait

On purpose laid to make the taker mad;

Mad in pursuit, and in possession so;

Had, having had, and in quest to have, extreme;

A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;

Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream;

All this the world well knows; yet none knows well,

To shun the Heaven that leads men to this Hell!"

- Shakespeare. Sonnet 129.

At puberty (from the age of 11-15) a boy becomes capable of paternity, a girl of maternity; during adolescence (from puberty to 25) the body in general, and the reproductive organs in particular, grow and mature.

In the boy, semen is secreted, the voice breaks, the genitals enlarge, hair grows on the pubes, face and armpits, and there is a rapid increase in height owing to growth of bone. In the girl menstruation commences, the pelvis is enlarged, bust and breasts develop, the complexion brightens, the hair becomes glossy, and the eyes bright and attractive.

In both, the sexual instinct awakens, and the mental, like the physical, changes are profound. There is great general instability, the child, at one time shy [pg 110] and reticent, is at another, boisterous and self-assertive.

Parents rarely realize the importance and trying nature of this period when "there awakes an appetite which in all ages has debased the weak, wrestled fiercely with the strong and overwhelmed too often even the noble". Adolescents suffer more from the lack of understanding, sympathy, appreciation and wise guidance shown by their blind parents, than they do from their own ignorance and perfervid imagination.

The transitions from radiant joy and confident expectation, reared on a flimsy basis of supposition, to dire despair consequent on a wrong reading of physical and mental changes, are rapid. Friends, lovers and heroes quickly succeed one another, play their parts, and give place to others.

The awakening of the sexual appetite is usually ignored, and children are left to gain knowledge of man's noblest power from companions, casual references in the Bible and other books, and unguarded references in conversation. Under such conditions not one in a thousand—and your child is not that one—escapes impurity and degraded sex ideas.

Wherever youth congregate, this subject crops up, and those who talk most freely to the others are just those with the most distorted and vicious ideas, whose discourse abounds in obscene detail and ribald jest. Your child must learn either from ignorant, unclean minds, or be taught in a clean, sacred way, which will rob sex of secrecy and obscenity; learn he will; if you will not teach your child, his pet rabbit will.

When children ask awkward questions, say quietly that such matters are not discussed with children, but promise to tell them all about it when they are ten years old; delay no longer, for most children learn self-abuse between ten and twelve.

Self-abuse [masturbation] is a bad habit, and no more a "sin" than [pg 111] is biting the nails. Unfortunately, people with no other qualification than a desire to do good, wrongly harp on the "sin" of it and draw lurid pictures of physical and mental wreck as the end of such "sinners", ignorant that if all masturbators went mad the world would be one huge asylum.

Exaggeration never pays in teaching youth. Tell the truth, which is bad enough without adding "white lies" with an eye to effect.

Coitus causes slight prostration, Nature's device to remind man to keep sexual intercourse within bounds, for while in moderation it is harmless, in excess it causes great prostration. Exactly the same applies to self-abuse, for, paradoxical as it seems, the real harm is done by the fear of the supposed harm.

The masturbator first suffers from the knowledge he is indulging in a pleasure he knows would be forbidden, and from fear of being found out; later he learns from friends, quack advertisements, or well-meaning books that self-abuse is a most deadly practice, and thereupon a tremendous struggle occurs between desire and fear, each act ending in an agony of remorse and dread of future consequences, which struggle does a thousand-fold more harm than the loss of a little semen.

The ill-effects of these mental struggles disappear after marriage, which means greater indulgence, but indulgence free from mental stress. In neuropaths, these mental struggles are the worst things that could occur, for they tend to make permanent the states we are trying to cure.

The most serious results of masturbation are moral not physical. Loss of will-power, self-reliance, presence of mind, reasoning power, memory, courage, idealism, and self-control; mental and physical debility, laziness, a diseased fondness for the opposite [pg 112] sex, and in later years, some degree of impotence or sterility, are its commoner results.

Teach your child, therefore, not from fear of physical harm, but because you wish him to be one of those fortunate few who live and die "gentlemen unafraid", because they had wise parents.

Let the mother instruct a girl, the father a boy, and not leave so vital a matter to an unsuitable pamphlet.

Buy one of the many "Knowledge for Boys or Girls" books and read it carefully.

Having made sure you can convey a simple account of the wonders of reproduction, and that you have rooted out the idea that sex is something to be apologized for, see the child and tell him it is time he learned of his private parts, as manhood draws near.

Then, speaking in a quiet, unembarrassed way, deliver your little homily, all the time insisting on the marvel, the romance, the poetry and the beauty of the sex. Let chivalry be your text, not fear, and repeat the Squire's sound parting advice to Tom Brown:

"Never listen to or say things you would not have your mother or sister hear."

Give a clear and complete description in simple words of the mechanism and marvel of reproduction, for half-knowledge generates a prurient curiosity about the other sex, thus defeating the very end you have so earnestly striven for.

Purity not impurity should be your text, and you should only refer to masturbation as a harmful habit, which should not be contracted.

Warn them to

"Keep the heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life!"

by turning their thoughts instantly and determinedly [pg 113] away from sex ideas when they arise, as they will arise, time and again. It is useless to try not to think of them, the child must instantly turn its thoughts to to something else, for one who cannot stamp out a spark will not subdue a fiercely-raging conflagration.

Babies should not be carelessly caressed, and a fretful infant must never be soothed by playing with the genitals, as is done innocently by some mothers and nurses, and by others from motives more questionable. Freud showed that there are subconscious sexual desires in infants, which die out until reanimated at puberty in Nature's own way. If exaggerated by exuberant fondling, they gather force in the dark corners of the mind, and are later manifested in morbid sexual or mental perversity.

If you have good grounds for believing the habit has already been contracted, enlist medical advice. A great factor in the successful treatment of self-abuse is early recognition, and, after the unhygienic nature of the habit has carefully been pointed out, the child's sense of honour should be invoked.

Without further reference to the matter, try to become your child's confidant, for he will have to fight fires within and foes without. See that his time is filled with healthy sport and play, and ennoble his ideas with talk, books and plays which lay stress on chivalry and manliness. Give him plain food, tepid douches, and a firm bed with light, fairly warm clothing. Get him up reasonably early in the morning, and let him play until he is "dog-tired" at night.

Let children rub shoulders with others, keep them from highly exciting tales, let them read but little, and train them to be observant of external objects all the time.

Neuropaths develop very early sexually, and contract bad habits in the endeavour to still their unruly passions; with them, the future is darker [pg 114] than with the normal child, and the parent who neglects his duty may justly be held accountable for what happens to his child or his child's children.

Puberty is always a critical period in epilepsy, many cases commencing at this time, while in a number, fits commence in infancy, cease during childhood, and recommence at puberty, the baneful stimulus of masturbation being undoubtedly a factor in many of these cases.