THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELES

Evening Star, Issue 24334, 24 October 1942, Page 3

THE DIARY OF A DOCTOR WHO TELES

THAT INFERIORITY COMPLEX Monday, October 19. “ He keeps to himself a lot,” said Mrs Falls, tolling me of her 12-year-old son. “ 1 think he must have an inferiority complex or something.” ‘‘Not necessarily,” i said; "It might even be the reverse.” “ Inferiority complex ” hit the world as a heaven-sent explanation of everybody’s normal deficiencies. A real ‘ inferiority complex ” doesn’t produce quiet retiring people so much as noisyaggressive people. When we have an inferiority complex most of us make an effort to overcome it by bolstering ourselves up in our own, and other people’s imagination. The alcohol addict is often a person with an inferiority- complex which urges him to seek to forget ids inferiority. The bully is olion a man with an inferiority complex towards thoso he tries to bully. Someone has said that tlic German is a gentleman who suffers all his life from the thought that his wife hasn’t the air of a Frenchwoman and that ho himself doesn’t look like an Englishman. So the German tries to bully both. An inferiority complex makes us feel wo can’t quite do the job. If we leel this way we often try and compensate for it by talking in a most superior, know-all way to all those junior to us, at the same time being suspicious of any advice lest the taking of it suggest that we arc ourselves incompetent. An inferiority complex makes us a little angry at people who seem to come to no harm when brought face to face with temptations which we are frightened would be too much for us. As a cynic put it, “Blessed are the pure ;u heart, for they shall inhibit the earth.” The happy person is he who has conquered his fears and doesn’t spend too much time worrying about the other fellow’s .fears. Fear is the greatest of all poisons to the human system. “ Usually there are no halfway measures with fear; cither the individual conquers it, or it conquers the individual.” Anyone who doubts the physical effect, of fear, anyone who doubts that mind can have influence over matter, should note what sometimes happens ■within, say, GOsec of receiving a shock. The heart misses,a beat or two. The pulse .begins to race. The skin goes white and moisture appears on it (cold sweat). The muscles seem paralysed. The breath is “ caught.” The fingers tremble. The pupils dilate. The voice goes dry. The stomach “ heaves,” and perhaps the person faints. Tuesday, October 20. I am struck with the fact that those who complain of constipation frequently confess to drinking very little water. I challenged Airs Welyns on this point, and she said she didn’t like drinking water much. “I’m never what you might call thirsty,” she said, “ and 1 generally have a cup of tea if 1 want anything.” “ That’s all right,” I told her, “ but you want to increase your fluid intake. Have a couple of glasses of water before breakfast, a couple more during the day, and drink one just before going to bed at night. Eat as many oranges as you like.” Our body is about 70 per cent, water. Parts of it are almost all wateq, the lens of the eye being 99 per cent, water. The most developed piece, ”of living material iri the world, the human brain, is about 90 per cent, water. We take in a lot of water with most food. Vegetables and fruits are almost all water. Meat is largely water. If people begin to drinji much more water than they formerly did it is as well to test them for diabetes. Diabetics drink a lot of water because they need a lot to dilute the unused sugar in their system. Wednesday, October 21. This day last week James Manning, aged 17, woke up to find he couldn’t move his arms or legs, though he had retired to bed perfectly well the night before. In three days’ time the paralysis passed off, but we have had him in hospital under observation—apd cross-examination—since the morning the illness started. We have found out that the lad’s mother, who died from some other condition a.few years ago, had exactly the same experience when she was 15. She continued to have similar attacks. Jim’s maternal grandfather was similarly affected.

“ No one ever knew quite what it was,” said the boy’s father, telling me all about it to-day, “ but the extraordinary thing is that both his mother and the grandfather completely grew out of the’attacks after a while. There was some talk of the great-grandfather having it, too. James has that rare condition “ familial periodid. paralysis.” It’s probably unknown to all but those who have it in their family. We haven’t the slightest idea what causes it or why it is—as it always is—hereditary. Thursday, October 22. “Ilf she's fair, fat, and forty, gentlemen, suspect gall bladder trouble.” I remember tlie.se words of our old surgery professor when Mrs Reeding finished telling mo about her rather vague symptoms this afternoon. Site said she had a “sort of indigestion, a fullness after meals, and a desire to belch.” She often woke up with a headache and felt a bit sickly. A care-fully-chosen breakfast made her feel better. Ordinary indigestion mixtures didn’t seem to do her any good. I said we would have some tests done and let her know the result. “What is the family history?” I asked. “ Mother used to suffer from gallstones.” she replied. “ I do hope I’m not going to get them. She used to be doubled up with them.” Admittedly, gall bladder trouble can be found in all sorts of people, tint I have always been interested in the fact that it predominates in a certain type of person. They are round-faced, shortnecked people with large hips and breasts. They are generally overweight. If we have the bad hick to get gall-, stones we eventually—but not always—know all about it. Although children have been" born with gallstones, it is very rare to find them before the age of 15, It is now known, however, that gallstones occur in about 25 per cent, of all women and in about 7 per cent, of all men dying after the age of 25. Fortunately, most of them are none the wiser. Similarly, most lungs examined postmortem show some slight evidence of tubercular infection which the person managed to resist without any trouble at all. How can the potential gall-bladder type of person avoid her possible fate? Probably by avoiding over-eating, excluding fried foods, fat meats, and sweets, having plenty of exercise in the open air, keeping to normal weight,

and taking a half-hour rest period after lunch, and avoiding tight garments. Friday, October 23, The doctor is always good for an honest spot of humour against him. Some I’ve heard this week;— Two of a Kind.—“l’m having trouble with these green dragons that keep creeping up mv sleeve,” said that patient to the psychiatrist, vigorously brushing his imaginary enemies away. “Look out. don’t brush them off mo,” screamed the psychiatrist hysterically. Careful. —An epileptic drooping in a street was rushed (unwisely) to the nearest hospital. A junior resident removed the patient’s coat and found the following notice pinned on his waistcoat: —“ Please tell the house surgeon this is just a case of ordinary fits. My appendix has been taken out twice already.” Misunderstood.— I The doctor was examining a pretty girl. “ You’ve got acute appendix,” he said. “ Say.” she replied, sitting up indignantly, “ any more of that fresh stuff and I’ll see another doctor.” Definition (by Voltaire). —“Doctors are men who prescribe medicines, of which they know little, to cure diseases, of which they know less, in humans of whom they know nothing.” Names in this Diary are fictitious. (Copyright.)