Body and Mind

Abstract

IN a paper read before Section J (Psychology) of the British Association at Bristol, Dr. H. Banister discussed the psychology of the tuberculous patient. He quoted various authorities who have attributed to tuberculosis a great variety of mental changes. The disease has been regarded by some to be stimulating to intellectual activity, even to the extent of producing the genius; others consider it to be the cause of neurasthenic syndromes, hysterical manifestations, certain types of psychosis, and homicidal tendencies. As his own view, Dr. Banister insisted that the mental mechanisms of tuberculous patients are the same as those of the healthy individual. Their apparently peculiar psychology is not dependent on tubercle infection; it is the ordinary reaction of the mind to the inhibitions, restrictions, and difficulties which inevitably accompany the disease, and is absent only in those who can readily adapt their outlook and their lives to the new and limiting circumstances. In some persons such adaptation, coupled with a tendency to day-dreaming which can be present during any chronic illness, may bring out the creative tendencies of the individual, expressed in literature and the arts. The state of undue exaltation and optimism often stated to be characteristic in phthisis, is very infrequent, and is simply a manifestation of the dissociation which might follow any severe mental stress.