The Mental Highway
	Psychoanalysis <  Previous Contents Next  >

Psychoanalysis is a consideration of the hidden hindrances to efficiency and success as they report in health, happiness, business or usefulness in any form. It deals with finding the hidden impressions and interests that lie uncharted and forgotten in the soul, which under certain conditions, rise to produce terrors for the mind, hallucinations of the senses, and the appearance of disease in the body, acting as an effective bar to progress.

The name "psycho" is a Greek derivative, meaning "soul." The Greeks had a fine shade of distinction in words, and while we use mind and soul interchangeably, in the Greek there was a definite distinction. The soul is nothing more nor less than what we term the subjective or subconscious side of the mind. This subconsciousness of ours has a way of its own in functioning. It has its channels of contact with the body, just as has the objective conscious mind. The objective functions through the cerebrospinal nervous system and governs the voluntary movements of the body. The subconscious functions through the sympathetic nervous system and controls all of the involuntary motions of the body, such as the action of the organ systems, and all the metabolic processes by which it renews the trillions of cells. It does this through involuntary reflex action, directly under control of subconscious mental activity.

Whenever anything happens in our conscious life, whether it comes from physical experience, mental activity, or the impact of the thoughts of others, whether good or bad, it affects the subconsciousness, and through it on all of our functional activity. Likewise, whatever happens in the superconscious, or divine side of the mind affects the soul side of life, giving it a tremendous uplift and inspiration. The superconscious influences the soul on every side, catches everything and forgets nothing. Thus we have within ourselves a net into which every thought and every vibration of the universe falls, and nothing slips through or is forgotten. We may not be conscious of it, but we are subconscious of it. So, all functional diseases and disorders of various kinds rise through the action of this subconscious self.

Certain experiences directly impress the subconsciousness: Wrong mental acts and habits, such as shock, long continued strain, steady attention to a given thing without proper diversion, depression, caused by grief or loss, prenatal influences, such as fear, timidity and solicitude of various kinds, hereditary influences, and the influences of stored up experiences from other lives. These all act on the subconscious mind very definitely, and can form scars and complexes, producing the vast variety of abnormal ideas and experiences of nervous people. These impressions lie hidden in the subconscious, and we forget them as the years pass. Under the strain of nervous energies, a hidden scar suddenly projects itself into the conscious mind, filling the vision and senses with hallucinations, sense images, mental ideas and obsessions, filling one with the sensations of disease and delusions of mind. Sometimes the original scar associates itself with other and later impressions, which are also hidden and forgotten, and it rises in experience as a psychological complex.

The secret of the power of such a complex lies in the mystery in which its origin is shrouded. The very fact that its origin is hidden multiplies its terror a thousandfold. If we can only trace its cause, most of its power is at once annulled, which leads us to the law of dissolving these complexes and giving relief to the patient. The law is, that the moment we discover some stored and forgotten experience, which is the cause of the trouble, we sweep the mystery away, the mind immediately begins to readjust itself to facts as they are, rids itself of its hallucinations, and recovers normality. The patient can rarely make this analysis for himself. In fact, only the most skillful work by the practitioner is at times able to find the hidden cause, for the subconsciousness hides its secret as cunningly as a burglar hides his loot.

A thousand forms of functional diseases arise in that way. We are not speaking of organic diseases, although doubtless they arise in the same way. Many physicians who have been cancer specialists and have given their lives to the study of this disease, to find its cause and cure, have developed the disease and died of it, although no known infection or contagion exists. The only explanation of this is the metaphysical one: The influence of constantly imaging the ravages of the disease so impresses the subconscious side of their life that finally it produces those mental images in external form. It is worthy of note that organic conditions are often cured while the symptoms remain, and likewise, the symptoms of disease are sometimes removed while the organic conditions remain unchanged. Assuming functional diseases can pass into organic is reasonable, therefore.

We have seen many cases of paralysis, which would defy anyone to detect that they were not the real thing, having all the signs and symptoms, such as lack of sensation, loss of control, inability to move limbs and parts, yet the paralysis was purely functional. No destruction of any motor nerve or destruction of any brain substance had occurred, in fact, nothing but the inhibition of nerve action.

We have seen many cases of blindness, some partial, some total, some of many years standing, in which the sight returned instantly after finding the hidden cause in some past shock. We may relieve this by placing fingers on the eyes and by prayer, turning the mind to an entirely new thought, arousing in them the tremendous uplift of faith, filling the released nerve with the normal thrill of life and action. Sometimes, the returned vision is gradual, but in all such cases it is necessarily a process of psychological cause and effect.

The most difficult condition to relieve is inhibition of the auditory nerve, possibly because it is so close to the brain center, but more probably because people use the sense so constantly that they fill consciousness with its shortcoming. These complexes inhibit the auditory nerve just as they do other nerves of sensation. We make no reference here, of course, to those organic causes for deafness, which are many, whose distinguishing features are well known. We speak of functional deafness caused by these psychic impressions.

People suffer from "hot spots," "cold spots," tumors, false growths, numbness, dizziness, muscular and nerve weaknesses, trembling and a host of other sensations all arising from psychic impressions. Such conditions disappear when we discover their point of origin in forgotten experiences. Often instead of a physical expression, but frequently with it, the effects produced are mental or psychic in character. People have all sorts of delusions and fixed ideas, one of the commonest being that the Almighty is punishing them, or that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost, or that an evil spirit has possessed them. Some, who believed they were possessed of a devil, certainly acted like it. Under hallucinations of the senses they see all sorts of things and hear, touch, taste and smell them. The great family of phobias, which these complexes create, include the fear of dying, the fear of going crazy, and kindred ideas. It does not matter that we have proven these fears false a thousand times. The next time that they arise actively, the patient is overwhelmed with the terror of them.

Psychoanalysis is a process by which we search for the cause, and show the patient that cause. We show him the rational process of cause and effect: A process of development, which works with unfailing certainty and regularity, produces these false ideas and experiences. If we can discover the cause and bring it to the light, it strips away the mystery, and therefore, of breaking the power of the obsession. We must show them that the idea has no power unless they give it power by their thinking. The rule is that upon the revelation of this cause process and effect, the mind reacts upon itself, the inhibitions are freed, the nervous system returns to its normal functioning, the mind is cleared of its hallucinations, and the trouble stops, usually promptly.

We emphasize the necessity of stripping away the mystery of origin because the experiences of most psychoanalysts show that the doctor’s uncertainty delights the patient, who soon develops a love for the mystery of it. Woe to the analyst if he hesitates, for the case is lost. If we act in an orderly and systematic way, with the air of confidence, we beget confidence in the patient, and enable him to answer questions and to recall experiences, which he could not do of his own unaided effort. Anyone can bring up experiences and memories under the stimulus of a skillful questioner, which he could never have recalled of his own accord.

Psychoanalysis grew from the practice of medical science in investigating the states of a person’s soul. It consisted of analyzing the effects of the repression of the various impulses that we have, which otherwise would arise into normal expression. Researchers found that when we repress any strong impulse of life, it forms a scar. Repression causes an atrophy of the powers of normal expression of that impulse, causing it to combine with other scars. When it takes some mysterious slant, it suddenly projects itself into the mental horizon, filling the mind with grotesque visions, inhibiting the nerves, and deranging the functions of the body. When we repress an experience, it often lies hidden and forgotten for months and years until some stimulus (long continued attention or effort or the effects of shock and strains) upsets the nervous system. Then this hidden impression arises, often associated with other impressions or scars, forming a complex, which is often mysterious to most trained observing.

According to some teachers, we can refer all impulses to action back to the fundamental, or Creative Impulse, whose primary expression is sex, and they claim that every repression, in some sense, is sex repression. Furthermore, they claim that every impulse of expression in any direction is a primary, secondary or tertiary expression of this primal impulse, sublimated in some new form. While it seems to have a good deal of scientific basis, it remains a fact that many of our impulses for expression are so far removed from the sex impulse that it requires a good stretch of the imagination to relate them.

Our power to achieve is nothing more nor less than the sublimation of the Creative Impulse in us. Every great book that any author ever wrote, every picture painted, every oratorio composed, every song written, every sculpture carved, every sermon preached, or play produced, every life or character devoted to a high purpose, found its explanation in the sublimation of this Creative Impulse, which is fundamental in every one of us. The psychoanalyst cannot dismiss the question by any arbitrary inclusion or exclusion. Our mind must be open to the right answer.

Many cases are clearly rooted in repression of the sex impulse, yet many other cases do not seem to be connected with the Creative Impulse. Undoubtedly, many people suffer most of the ills of the flesh simply because they do not know this law of sublimation, or change in the direction of the Creative Impulse. Yet the world also has many extremists, who have sought to carry the sublimation process to the Nth degree, and who suffer from an inverted sex repression. We say this in the interest of sanity and common sense in all things. Recognizing that the primary law of expression has been inhibited may relieve many cases of a nervous breakdown. When people deny normal expressions of the Creative Impulse (usually through enforced celibacy), they fall out of harmony with life, family and friends. Unless they find the normal expression of the Creative Impulse, or can wisely direct the impulse in some secondary way, it inevitably brings trouble.

The process of a psychoanalysis, while apparently intricate, is simple enough. It is carried out on the principle of the confessional. It requires the digging up of the last hidden thought and impulse, and enters every area of the subject’s life. Having the confidence of the person to be analyzed is necessary; second, you must be alone. He will never tell you the truth about his morals or religion when his wife is present, and vice versa. The most vital and delicate questions have to be asked, because the solution of the problem often hinges directly upon some fact of sex consciousness. Keeping his mind on the simple facts is necessary.

Just as certain symptoms guide the physician in making the diagnosis of a case, so do the subject’s answers guide the mental practitioner, and the subject’s mental operations in answering. This method of questioning is effective and is based upon sound principles. The method is for the subject and the analyst to sit facing each other, the analyst to pronounce, one by one a list of words, definite, pointed, clearly spoken, beginning with those of the simplest significance, and moving into those of extensive influence. The subject is asked to pronounce instantly, in one word, whatever idea arose in his mind when a word is spoken to him. We call this the mental reaction, and the time between the speaking of the word and the reaction determined the quickness of a subject’s thought processes. Those words carrying ideas that have no effect upon the subject’s emotional life, usually elicit an immediate reaction, while those words whose significance influences the subject’s emotional life require time for reference to all the nerve centers involved, so that sometimes the reaction would not come until 3 or 5 or even 10 seconds had passed. If a subject is unable to react in 10 seconds, he is considered to have received a solar plexus mental blow, upon the theory that the idea and its experiences had not only registered in his brain, but also in his solar plexus, the center of the sympathetic nervous system. In this way, by pronouncing a list of 25 or 50 words, it is possible to bring to light the various things that had played havoc with the subject’s emotional nature, and of whose effects he is totally unconscious. A list of 50 such words, carried out in this way will give a fairly correct hint of the things that have profoundly affected the individual.

The best method is to have the subject give a full statement of his case, including its reports in body and mind. Then we review his life, looking for shocks or traumas (accidents, for sudden situations that have thrown terror into his life, or moments of great danger, either personally or someone near to him) that have caused the block. Study his life for repressions, the things he desired to do and was unable to do. Learn when the unnatural circumstances, or any tendency toward them first began to develop, tracing carefully back to childhood, looking minutely into the circumstances under which he was raised, about whether he had a normal childhood. If you do not found the cause, look to prenatal conditions. The parents’ age when he was born, their ages relative to each other, and general characteristics of each parent, the number of children, and the nearness of his birth to the child preceding him. Pay particular attention to his mother’s prenatal states, as to material surroundings and comfort, as to her disappointments and fears. The common difficulty of stammering is prenatal in its origin, and is essentially a defect of the personality, which can be cured by practice of those mental and emotional qualities which make for self-confidence and self control. Follow this by finding the family characteristics, not only of the parents, but previous generations.

This is the briefest possible outline of a practical working method of psychoanalysis. The analyst must see with the mind and with the eye, and to hear with mental ears. A trained intuition will often lead to the discovery of the hidden cause, when well-formulated rules fail. The general principles of psychoanalysis are the same every time, and every case is a thing of itself, required to be treated individually and not as a class.

As illustrations of the results of psychoanalysis, Dr. Jung, a student of Freud, told of a man who had been blind for 14 years: The analysis of his dreams revealed that he was dreaming of fighting all the time while he slept, he had never quarreled nor fought with anyone. He never quarreled with his wife, because she was his wife, and because she was a woman, but that he had been angry with her often. The repression of his anger had brought the inhibition of the optic nerve, which was released at once by finding the cause, and by the declaration that its power was ended.

One young woman was unable to ride in an automobile when it started up or downhill. The cause was a state of fear by her mother in the patient’s prenatal state. Her mother was filled with fears from having to go up and down steep, icy steps at the back of the house. The finding of this cause, and the declaration that the idea no longer had power, released her from the trouble.

A correct psychoanalysis may be made in five minutes, or it may much longer, but when once the correct explanation for any given trouble is found, the patient is released from its power, and gets well.