Mrs. A. De L. is of middle-class people whose parents lived beyond their means and educated their only daughter to do the same.  Here is one of the anomalies of life:  bitterly aware of their folly, the extravagant and struggling deliberately push their children into the same road.  Mrs. De L. learned early that the chief objects of life in general were to keep up appearances and kill time; that as a means to success a woman must get a rich husband and keep beautiful.  Being an intelligent girl and pretty she managed to get the rich husband,—­and settled down to the rich housewife’s neurosis.

Her husband was old-fashioned despite his rather new wealth, and they had two children,—­a large modern American family.  Though he allowed her to have servants he insisted that she manage their household, which she did with rebellion for a short time, and then rather quickly broke away from it by turning over the household to a housekeeper.  This brought about the silent disapproval of her husband, who let her “have her own way”, as he said, “because it’s the fashion nowadays.”

She became a seeker of pleasure and sensation, drifting from one type of amusement to the other in an intricately mixed cooeperation and rivalry with members of her set.  She followed every fad that infests staid old Boston, from the esoteric to the erotic.  She became an accomplished dancer, ran her own car, followed the races, went to art exhibitions, subscribed to courses of lectures of which she would attend the first, dabbled in new religions, became enthusiastic:  about social work for a month or two,—­and became a professional at bridge.  Summers she rested by chasing pleasure and flirting with male habitues of fashionable summer resorts; part of the winter she recuperated at Palm Beach, where she vied for the leadership of her set with her dearest enemy.

Her husband financed all her ventures with a disillusioned shrug of his shoulders.  As she entered the thirties she became intensely dissatisfied with herself and her life, tried to get back to active supervision of her home but found herself in the way, though her children were greatly pleased and her husband sceptical.  The need of excitement and change persisted; gradually an intense boredom came over her.  Her interest in life was dulled and she began a mad search for some sensation that would take away the distressing self-reproach and dissatisfaction.  Shortly after this she lost the power to sleep and had a host of symptoms which need not be detailed here.

The medical treatment was first to restore sleep.  I may say that this is a first step of great importance, no matter how the sleeplessness originates.  For even if an idea or a disturbing emotion is its cause, the sleeplessness may become a habit and needs energetic attention.

With this done, attention was paid to the social situation, the life habits.  It was pointed out that all the philosophies of life were based on simple living and work, and that all the wise men from the beginning of the written word to our own times have shown the futility of seeking pleasure.  It was shown that to be a sensation seeker was to court boredom and apathy, and that these had deenergized her.