Unconscious therapeutics, or, the personality of the physician / by Alfred T. Schofield.

  • Schofield, A. T. (Alfred Taylor), 1846-1929.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Unconscious therapeutics, or, the personality of the physician / by Alfred T. Schofield. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    82/340 (page 66)
    Morbid processeB arrested solely by the ‘ vis.’ Details of its action. is the natural preservative action of the organism by means of the unconscious mind. The ‘ vis ’ is a fine example of the power of the mental factor in pathology, if not in medicine. So great, indeed, is its natural power that not the most skilled combination of drugs is (as I have said) of avail without its aid ; while the most haphazard remedies and the purest empiricism can accomplish marvels if backed by this ever-present force. But for the action of the unconscious mind in guarding the organism by the skilled direction of the forces at its disposal, a morbid disturbance, once set up, would inevitably continue to the point of annihilation ; for treatment directed to the living body is, as I have said, absolutely meaningless except as an appeal to such powers of resistance as a patient possesses. When these powers of the unconscious mind fail, as in the closing scenes of any fatal illness, it is idle to expect anything from treatment, as, of course, we all know that death in its last analysis is the final failure of the vis medi- catrix natures—of the recuperative power of mind. Coming to a few details, and seeking, as far as possible, to avoid repeating those already given in a previous work,^ I may note that purpose and ’ The Force of Mind.