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Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1930, Page 4

Financial stringency has proved an excellent doctor. One of the most interesting features of the Dominion’s reactions' to the present cyclical depression, :says a Wellington correspondent, is the fact that it has cured illnesses. Leading doctors are unanimous in saying that, while a 'few month/s ago they received patients suffering from imaginary ailments, today the <‘mind-made’’ disease has Vanished. Some doctors say 'that their percentage 'of patients altogether has shown a sharp drop; others that while the genuine cases are still arriving, the professional patients and people who in ordinary times cherish their ailments are conspicuously nox there. There used to he a fairly steady proportion of these cases, of people who imagined that they were ill, when examination showed that they were in perfectly normal health. Often they visited several doctors at intervals, and told each doctor what the others had said. Their visits were purely. for their own satisfaction, as their relatives, where were communicated with, usually were resigned to the touchy state of mind of t'jfs chrorii'o invalids. But there are other patifents who fir§ Hat earning tO doctors as freely as thOy Used, hiid the query Of one medical mail was: “Are people afraid that they cannot afford ; to be- ill? 1 ’ To this question several doctors give an assent. They are o? opinion that the tinw« have impressed the need for caution upon the people, and that those who are feeling below normal determine to wait a day or two before seeking medical advice. In the majority of cases this action results in Nature being aide to play her part in restoring the man to health, but there may be other cases where such action will be serious. To the general public th° doctors pay: Do not worry about diagnosis where you think that a day or two will set you up again, and you are satisfied that the ailment is not very serious, but where there is an unduly great variation in temperature, or where there is hemorrhage, or where an organ appears to be affected, communicate with a doctor at once. Professional men are professional, it is pointed out, because in necessitous cases they are expected to work for what the patient can afford to pay them; for nothing, if need be.