Emotional factors in public health nursing : a casebook / prepared by the Wisconsin State Board of Health. ; Abraham B. Abramovitz, editor.

  • Wisconsin. State Board of Health.
Date:
1961
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Emotional factors in public health nursing : a casebook / prepared by the Wisconsin State Board of Health. ; Abraham B. Abramovitz, editor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    who could understand valid medical interpretation, get in- volved in spending money, time, and much effort to master pseudomedical rubbish instead.* Other interesting phenomena in relation to this particular adaptation process include the following: (a) depending on chance, whether through gambling or through give-away programs, to attain the sudden opportunity for power that otherwise is realisti- cally not available; ° (b) the almost fetish-like reverence for encyclopedic knowledge such as helps in quiz programs. 6. The struggle between experiences in fantasy and experi- ences in reality—The human being is remarkably equipped to respond to reality in such manner that he can make of it almost anything that is or is not there. One may suppose that this is Nature’s means of making possible the highest form of human creativity as in art and music. The lines between reality and fantasy are often blurred, and a balance in favor of perceiving reality is difficult to maintain. This particular adaptation process is of key importance in differentiating mental health from mental illness. In young children the blurring of the lines is more marked than it usually is in older persons. Many adults in our culture regard fantasy as some- thing undesirable, something bad, and may so instruct chil- dren even to the point of punishing them, viz., they may call the child’s fantasy “lying.” To recognize the functions of fantasy and to insure its constructive use is perhaps one of the important goals for adults in educating children whether at home or in school. | 7. The struggle between seeking self-satisfaction and less self-centered concern for others.—This is a lifelong develop- ment in all human beings starting with almost complete self- centeredness in infancy. Some very mature people ultimately 4 Farnsworth, “Emotional Obstacles.” °Dan Wakefield, “Harlem’s Magic Numbers,” The Reporter, CCXXXIII, No. 3 (February 4, 1960), 25, 26.