Fatigue—and Keep Looking Young
One day last autumn， my associate flew up to Boston toattend a session of one of the most unusual medical classes inthe world. Medical？ Well， yes， it meets once a week at the BostonDispensary， and the patients who attend it get regular andthorough medical examinations before they are admitted. Butactually this class is a psychological clinic. Although it is officiallycalled the Class in Applied Psychology （formerly the ThoughtControl Class—a name suggested by the first member）， its realpurpose is to deal with people who are ill from worry. And manyof these patients are emotionally disturbed housewives.
How did such a class for worriers get started？ Well， in 1930，Dr. Joseph H. Pratt—who， by the way， had been a pupil of SirWilliam Osier—observed that many of the outpatients who cameto the Boston Dispensary apparently had nothing wrong withthem at all physically； yet they had practically all the symptomsthat flesh is heir to. One woman’s hands were so crippled with“arthritis” that she had lost all use of them. Another was in agonywith all the excruciating symptoms of “cancer of the stomach”.
Others had backaches， headaches， were chronically tired， orhad vague aches and pains. They actually felt these pains.
But the most exhaustive medical examinations showed thatnothing whatever was wrong with these women-in the physicalsense. Many old-fashioned doctors would have said it was allimagination—“all in the mind”.
But Dr. Pratt realised that it was no use to tell these patientsto “go home and forget it”. He knew that most of these womendidn’t want to be sick； if it was so easy to forget their ailments，they would do so themselves. So what could be done？
He opened his class—to a chorus of doubts from the medicaldoubters on the sidelines. And the class worked wonders！ In theeighteen years that have passed since it started， thousands ofpatients have been “cured” by attending it. Some of the patientshave been coming for years—as religious in their attendance asthough going to church. My assistant talked to a woman who hadhardly missed a session in more than nine years. She said thatwhen she first went to the clinic， she was thoroughly convincedshe had a floating kidney and some kind of heart ailment. She wasso worried and tense that she occasionally lost her eyesight andhad spells of blindness. Yet today she is confident and cheerfuland in excellent health. She looked only about forty， yet she heldone of her grandchildren asleep in her lap. “I used to worry somuch about my family troubles，” she said， “that I wished I coulddie. But I learned at this clinic the futility of worrying. I learnedto stop it. And I can honestly say now that my life is serene.”
Dr. Rose Hilferding， the medical adviser of the class， saidthat she thought one of the best remedies for lightening worryis “talking your troubles over with someone you trust. We callit catharsis，” she said. “When patients come here， they can talktheir troubles over at length， until they get them off their minds.
Brooding over worries alone， and keeping them to oneself， causesgreat nervous tension. We all have to share our troubles. We haveto share worry. We have to feel there is someone in the world whois willing to listen and able to understand.”
My assistant witnessed the great relief that came to onewoman from talking out her worries. She had domestic worries， and when she first began to talk， she was like a wound-up spring.
Then gradually， as she kept on talking， she began to calm down.
At the end of the interview， she was actually smiling. Had theproblem been solved？ No， it wasn’t that easy. What caused thechange was talking to someone， getting a little advice and a littlehuman sympathy. What had really worked the change was thetremendous healing value that lies in-words！
Psycho-analysis is based， to some extent， on this healing powerof words. Ever since the days of Freud， analysts have known thata patient could find relief from his inner anxieties if he could talk，just talk. Why is this so？ Maybe because by talking， we gain a littlebetter insight into our troubles， get a better perspective. No oneknows the whole answer. But all of us know that “spitting it out” or“getting it off our chests” bring almost instant relief.
So the next time we have an emotional problem， why don’t welook around for someone to talk to？ I don’t mean， of course， to goaround making pests of ourselves by whining and complainingto everyone in sight. Let’s decide on someone we can trust， andmake an appointment. Maybe a relative， a doctor， a lawyer， aminister， or priest. Then say to that person： “I want your advice.
I have a problem， and I wish you would listen while I put it inwords. You may be able to advise me. You may see angles to thisthing that I can’t see myself. But even if you can’t， you will helpme tremendously if you will just sit and listen while I talk it out.”