MIND AND HEALTH

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

PSYCHOTHERAPEUTICS has been firmly established both as a science and an art. Specialists employing its principles in well-established practice are now recognized in the scientific world. They may differ in theory upon points in etiology and therapeutic procedure, but that they have grasped some of the fundamental principles of the science and art is proved by their general success. Puzzling and baffling cases of mental and bodily derangement must be left to the care of the specialist, with his sharper intuition and maturer experience; but it is possible to give a scientific account of these principles in a way to put their general application within the reach of every intelligent mind.

The use of psychotherapeutics by religious bodies is a noteworthy characteristic of the present day and the tendency of this direction is growing at a considerable rate. And rightly so, for it is one of the recognized offices of religion to minister to all the needs of man, and while the ministration to certain of these needs has been undertaken by other professions or agencies, there remains in the minds of men the conviction that religious ministrations ought to be to the whole man; that the churches and other religious bodies have not

measured up to their obligations in this matter; and that the time has come when they must now address themselves to this work in a conscientious, intelligent

manner.

By such insistence no encroachment on the ground of the medical or any other profession is intended. It is to get back on ground that the religious body must occupy to her own integrity and peace of mind but which she has, to a considerable extent, abandoned. This ground is (1) the healing of many complaints which yield to a proper religious appeal; (2) the arrest of troubles in their incipient stages which a strong, hearty mental and moral appeal can correct; (3) the instruction in sound principles of mental and moral health and of the avoidance of ill-health; and (4) an enabling appeal to the strong and well to stand firm under their present burdens and even to add thereto. It is with this fourfold division of the true ground of religious service to the needs of men that we shall concern ourselves in this treatise.

Religious bodies are giving much attention to the healing side of their work to-day especially in large centers of population and in the mission fields, particularly the foreign. Here the aim is always to have installed the latest devices and methods of the best modern medical practice in suitably adapted buildings; but it is well understood that this means a large outlay for such religious bodies in adequate salaries for properly trained medical men, in properly equipped buildings, and in all the instruments, devices, and agencies that belong to twentieth-century medical science; hence the widespread establishment of such agencies is prohibited. It is not our purpose to call attention to all methods and

means of cure that can be legitimately practiced in a religious way.

We are to confine ourselves to the domain of psychotherapy in the religious field. We do this first of all because the very science of psychotherapy is the carefully studied out principles with which every religious minister or worker is more or less familiar in his work but as principles especially applied to mental and bodily healing and health. It has been surprising and gratifying to see how quickly the principles of psychotherapy have been recognized by religious workers, when presented systematically to them, even in instances where there had been no knowledge or study of them as such. In their own ministrations they had been constantly using these means. Yet it is equally and indeed more surprising that very few of the scores of such workers whom the writer has addressed in the regular meetings of the religious bodies with which they were connected, were using these principles with the mind and body in view with the distinct aim of ridding them of their ills.

Before we pass to some necessary technical discussion which is necessary as a foundation for our later thought, we would call attention in this introductory chapter to some more general phases of the subject of psychotherapy: its definition, history, principles established, principles in dispute, schools or systems, its recognition at the present time, its adaptability in its present forms for religious use and the satisfaction and joy of such use. Our discussion of these points must necessarily be brief.

DEFINITION OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

Psychotherapy, properly speaking, means the curing of a mental ailment; it also means the use of mental

measures in effecting that cure. A broader use of the term, however, is usually understood, but for such use the word "psychotherapeutics" is preferred by some, which means the treatment of the sick by influencing the mental life. The psychical or mental means may be used alone or may be conjoined with other methods of treatment. It is now generally recognized that whatever other means are used, it is, to a greater or less extent invariably present. It affects other methods of treatment very considerably.

Psychotherapy is sharply to be separated from psychiatry, the treatment of mental diseases. As the term psychotherapy implies, mental illness too is open to mental treatment, but many diseases of the mind are beyond the reach of psychotherapy alone, and, on the other hand, diseases which are not recognized distinctly as mental, come within the scope of psychotherapy. The psychotherapist aims to set levers of the mind in motion and work through such means towards removal of the ailment. To-day, psychotherapy is successfully grappling with the greatest possible variety of these disturbances of mind and body.

In the light of some of the most recent research, psychotherapeutics is an analysis and a synthesis of certain mental states. It is really the splitting up and the joining together of certain abnormal states. It is a science of education by building up judgment, discrimination, mental flexibility, self-control, and selfdirection through study, practice, and imitation of good models. It is the construction of new habits and the remodeling or replacement of old ones; the study of interests with a view to their development or replacement by training up more useful ones; and the con