TOLL OF, "NERVES"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 54, 26 November 1937, Page 11

TOLL OF, "NERVES"

Losses to Industry FAMOUS DOCTOR'S VIEWS """lONDON, Nov. 3. ] That "nerves" cost Great Britaini 10,000,000. weeks 'of working time was stated by Sir Farquhar . Buzzard, the famous physician, at, a meeting ' of mdustrialists at the headquarters of the British Medical Association. "We are brought to the conclusion that at Teast one-third of all the. sickness of this country is due to causes yhich are not organic in origin," said Sir Farquhar. 1 ' The economic impli.cations of this appalling state of things are obvious, even if we disregard its humanitarian aspect — the unnecessary, the avoidable unhappiness and suffering of thousands of our fellow-creatures. "We doctors are neither foolish enough nor conceited enough to say, in the present state of our knowledge, that all these cases of nervous disorder can be prevented or cured. We do contend, however, that a large number is preventable or curable. "If you were enlighteneS enough to place me at the head of a great business organiation, the first thiug I should do would be to take on a whole-time medical psychologist to study my employees and their conditions in health, and to deal with all cases of nervous disorder as they arose, in consultation with their panel or pnvate doctors. "The sick-roll would rapidly dimin«h, the certificates of 'debility,' 'gastfitis' and "anaemia' would gradually become almost unknown, and the efficiency and happiness of the staff would certainly be enhanced."