As Putnam says, the slogan of the suggestion-school of psychotherapy has always been, “You can do better if you try”; while that of the psycho-analytic school is, “You can do better when you know.”  Refuting the old adage, “Where ignorance is bliss ’tis folly to be wise,” the best methods of psychotherapy insist that the first step in any thorough-going attempt to change oneself must be the great step of self-knowledge.  As the conflicts which result in “nerves” are always far beyond those mental regions which are open to scrutiny, a real self-knowledge requires an examination of the half-conscious or wholly unconscious longings which are usually ignored.  A real understanding of self comes only when one is willing, to analyze his motives until he sees the connection between them and his nervous symptoms, which are but the symbolic gratification of desires he dares not acknowledge.

Although these deeply buried complexes are the real force behind a nervous illness, the material out of which the symptoms are manufactured is taken largely from superficial misconceptions concerning the bodily functions.  It is therefore a great help, also, to possess a fund of information,—­not technical nor detailed but accurate as far as it goes,—­about the more important workings of the bodily machinery.  A little knowledge about the actual chemistry of fatigue and the way it is automatically cared for by the body is likely to do away with the idea of nervous exhaustion as resulting from accumulation of fatigue.  A simple understanding of the biological and physiological facts concerning the assimilation of food and the elimination of waste material leaves the intelligent person less ready to convert his psychic discomfort into indigestion and constipation.  Chapters IX to XIII in this book, which at first glance may seem to belong to a work on physiology rather than on psychology are designed to give just such needed insight.

But knowing the truth is only the first half of the way out.  Every neurosis is a deliberate choice by a part of the personality.  Self-discovery is helpful only when it leads to better ways of self-expression.  The final aim of psychotherapy is the happy adjustment of the individual to the demands of society and the establishment of useful outlets for his energy.  This phase of the subject will be discussed more fully in Chapter XVI.

=The Future Hope.= Much has been said about the cure of a neurosis.  There are enough people already in the maze of nervousness to warrant the setting up of numerous signs reading, “This way out.”  But after all, is not a blocking of the way in of vastly more importance?  As it is always easier to prevent than to cure, so it is easier to train than to reform.  If re-education is the cure, why is not education the ounce of prevention which shall settle the problem for all time?

If the general public understood what “nerves” are, it is hardly conceivable that there could be so many breakdowns as there are at present.  If a man’s family and friends, to say nothing of himself, understood what he is doing when he suddenly collapses and has to quit work, it is not likely that he would choose that way out of his difficulties.