All patients are referred to these specialists first, and only those found to be suffering from the purely functional nervous disorders are admitted to the classes; this is done to avoid the objection that the employment of psychotherapy “in diseases which obviously require physical interference, may result in death through neglect”; but especially because “disorders of this nature are peculiarly associated with the moral life”—and “moral maladies require moral treatment.”
The philosophy of the movement is simple; the fundamental idea is the existence in each of us of a subconscious or subliminal mind, which is a normal part of our spiritual nature and is responsible for our unconscious and automatic movements, thoughts and motives. It is this subconscious mind which responds to hypnotic suggestion, after the conscious mind has been put to sleep; but even without resort to hypnotism, one of the most important characteristics is its suggestibility, its subjection to moral influence and direction.
The functional disorders of the nervous system such as neurasthenia, psychasthenia, hysteria, hypochondria and the like, are believed to be diseases of the subconscious; caused by a dissociation of consciousness, i. e., by certain portions of consciousness having become detached from the main stream.
By “psychic reeducation, utilization of reserve energy, suggestions given in hypnosis or in states of deep abstraction, there follows a re-association, a synthesis of the dissociated state, and a return to a state of healthy mindedness.” And the susceptibility of the subconscious mind to suggestion is believed to afford the means of accomplishing this.
How this is actually applied in the clinic will be understood better perhaps, if I quote directly from Mr. Powell, one of Dr. Worcester's earliest pupils and imitators.
After the discussion and the prescription of good books the patient is seated in the comfortable morris chair before the fire, which I take care by this time to have burning low—is taught by rhythmic breathing and by visual imagery to relax the muscles, and is led into the silence of the mind by tranquilizing suggestion. Then in terms of the spirit, the power of the mind over the body is impressed upon the patient's consciousness, and soothing suggestions are given for the relief of the specific ills.
In addition to the clinic at which individual treatments are thus given, there is, at Emmanuel Church, a mid-week meeting, at which, after singing and Bible reading, requests for prayer are read and answered, a short, practical address, applying the teachings of Christ to human ills, followed by an hour of social intercourse in the social room of the church. For the benefit of the doctors, ministers, social workers and others who desired to study the movement, a course of
