MANUAL WORK IN THE TREATMENT OF THE FUNCTIONAL NERVOUS DISEASES

The task of treating the functional nervous diseases is so important and so perplexing that you who know the subject best will be most willing to weigh the experience of any one who has honestly investigated in the field. For this reason, although a general practitioner, making no claim to especial neurologic training, I venture to lay before you my conclusions after some years' experience with manual work as a remedy. THE RATIONALE OF WORK In order to understand the effectiveness of this simple therapeutic adaptation, we must assume that rational occupation of some kind is an essential of sound and successful living. We must also appreciate that in the functional nervous diseases, we shall not commonly find the patient rationally occupied but either overworking or idle. We shall also usually find that the patient, whether he is idle or overworked, has adjusted his mental and physical habits to his