Homer Gage

“ It convinced us, that the church has an important mission to perform to the sick, and that the physician and the clergyman can work together to the benefit of the community. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1906, we determined to begin a similar work among the nervously and morally diseased. Our single desire is to give each patient the best opportunity of life and health which our means allow. We believe in the power of the mind over the body, and we believe also in medicine, in good habits, and in a wholesome and well-regulated life. ”

“ We see at once the necessity of getting back to the old idea of the physician, as the friend, adviser and guide of his patients; to a closer personal relation between physician and patient, and where, as in a large hospital clinic, this is impossible, an organization which, under his direction, shall follow his patients to their homes, see what is possible to be done in the way of carrying out his instructions, how it may be best accomplished, and see that it is accomplished. ”

“ First, the development of a healthy suggestion from without or within, with the education of the will, by an appeal to reason, and the cultivation of a right attitude toward life and especially toward health; and, secondly, the attempt to get closer to those who, by ignorance, misfortune, heredity or wrong doing, have become victims of distorted ideas about health and disease, and are unable to extricate themselves without help. ”

“ But when it comes to lecturing weekly, to hundreds of laymen and women at the church, and to going about from city to city explaining to lay audiences the nature of the work and encouraging imitation, as is being done by the projectors of this Emmanual idea, the medical profession at large views with alarm the superficial manner in which a complex medical problem is presented, and sees in it strong elements of quackery and charlatanism, and the danger of great harm from its practise. ”

“ It is clear, however, to scientific men that there is a large class for which no physical basis is likely to be found, which will always be the subject of much philosophical speculation and mysticism. Of late, a most interesting attempt has been made to employ science, religion and hypnotic suggestion, under the guise of psychotherapy, in the study and treatment of these cases, and I thought that perhaps it would be interesting to look for a few moments at the so-called Emmanuel movement from a medical viewpoint. ”

“ IN matters pertaining to the preservation of health, and the cure of disease, it is a fact of common observation that people in general, and educated people in particular, are very apt to seize eagerly upon every new theory or practise that is confidently announced as able to dispel their ills; and all the more eagerly if, in disregard of science and experience, it is strongly flavored with the mystical and miraculous. ”

“ The philosophy of the movement is simple; the fundamental idea is the existence in each of us of a subconscious or subliminal mind, which is a normal part of our spiritual nature and is responsible for our unconscious and automatic movements, thoughts and motives. It is this subconscious mind which responds to hypnotic suggestion, after the conscious mind has been put to sleep; but even without resort to hypnotism, one of the most important characteristics is its suggestibility, its subjection to moral influence and direction. ”

“ We all agree that the underlying causes in very many of these functional nervous disorders are moral causes. We all recognize the strong religious side in human nature. We have all seen in our own experience, or that of some of our friends, the peace and satisfaction of mind to be derived from a strong religious faith.
It is a powerful force for the uplifting of man, mentally and morally. This appeal to religious faith is, however, but one of our means of reaching nervous invalids; it is not always the most promising, nor is it always applicable ”

“ The safest counselor in all medical matters is he who has first grounded himself in normal and abnormal anatomy, in normal and pathological physiology and in the theory and practise of medicine as a whole, and then upon this foundation has made a thorough and exhaustive study of his special department; not the man who has followed a post-graduate course of lectures for a few weeks, or even months, nor the man whose psychological study has been incidental to his ecclesiastical training. ”

“ The only knowledge which is of value in the field of abnormal psychology and mental therapeutics has been gained from the laborious investigations of psychologists and physicians. This, all are free to use; but that its use is best safeguarded, and likely to be productive of the best results, in the hands of men with a general medical training will not generally be denied. ”

“ One of the striking features of our economic development is the disappearance of the small community and the small business, with the personal interest of each in all, employer and employed; and in its place we see the herding together of great masses of people in our large cities, each class by itself ”

“ Education of the reason and strengthening of the will would seem to be more promising means of securing a nervous equilibrium than an appeal to the emotions. Even though this work has been, and is being done by the general practitioner, as we have already seen, it is probably true that in many cases, at least, it is a work in which he would welcome the assistance and advice of a specialist. ”

“ It is entering a field that has always been occupied by medical men in an empirical way; and with the advancing knowledge of psychology and psychotherapy, they have demonstrated their ability and willingness successfully to cultivate it, wholly independent of church and religion. ”

“ Hospital men are beginning to recognize that simply a thorough physical examination with a prescription for some medicine and a few hurried words of advice are not enough; that much of our effort and of our hospital endowment has been wasted, because we did not know anything about the conditions under which our patients lived ”

“ The profession is already awakening to this defect in its practise, and one of the benefits of christian science and the later movement is the stimulus which it has given the medical profession, to take up again, in its new light, a work which it always used to do, and which still is a part of its duty ”

“ That the profession at large needs instruction in the practise of psychotherapy we are willing to admit; we believe that such instruction should be given at medical schools, to the end that the limitations as well as the possibilities of mental treatment should be laid down, so far as our present knowledge permits. ”

“ Another factor in the development of this new movement is the renewed interest in the old command, to love thy neighbor as thyself; the awakening of a sense of responsibility of the more fortunate for the less fortunate, in the world they both live in. ”

“ But how much better fitted to give that help is the expert in diseases of the brain and nervous system who has studied psychology, than he who has studied psychology alone, or taken it up as a side issue to his study of theology and of church administration. ”

“ That this process of reeducation can not be accomplished by hypnotic suggestion is the firm belief of the medical profession, especially the neurologists. That a state of hypnotic susceptibility can be induced in most people by a will that is stronger than their own is not doubted ”

“ It is difficult to see where the church has any material advantage in the competition, and as the movement spreads into the hands of those with few qualifications and with greater independence of sound medical counsel, it seems not unreasonable to predict its ultimate failure and general discredit. ”

“ To order for one patient a diet that he cannot possibly procure; for the next, a vacation that he is too poor to take; to forbid the third to worry, when the necessary cause of worry remains unchanged; to give the fourth directions for an outdoor life, which you are morally certain he will not carry out ”

“ It is certainly not desirable that this independence should be too complete; but neither is it at all desirable, for the reasons above given, that the medical and scientific part of the work should be incidental and secondary to the religious. ”

“ It may not have been part of the intent of creation that man should be harassed by the latter any more than by the former; but the conditions of life and of civilization have made us very vulnerable through our appetites. ”

“ Let us remind ourselves for the moment that scientific investigation has established the presence in the world of certain poisons, whose effects on man have been carefully studied and can be confidently predicted, like strychnia, prussic acid, arsenic and opium ”

“ It is from this latter class that the superstition and quackery of all ages have largely derived their support. To be sure, science is gradually invading even this field, and finding a physical basis for conditions which it has been hitherto unable to classify. ”

“ We have, of course, a class of nervous invalids, whose condition is the result of the strain of business and pleasure; but another, and much larger class, whose condition is due to ignorance, misfortune and actual hardship. ”

“ It is undoubtedly true that there has been a strong tendency to give undue attention and attribute undue importance to the interesting pathological problem presented in each case, and too little attention to its humanitarian aspect. We must not let the scientist push to one side the samaritan. ”

“ To meet this problem and to help the less fortunate, who, as a class, suffer most from this change, we have the growth of settlement work, of personal service, the better administration of charities, the getting closer to the personal life of the unfortunates, with a better knowledge of their trials, hopes and disappointments, giving more advice, counsel, sympathy and practical help and less alms. ”

“ These very real, very active movements have appealed to many churchmen as offering opportunities in which they could be useful to their fellow men; while, at the same time, they would be extending the influence of their church. ”

“ The lines, however, are not strictly drawn between the two professions, because some medical men see no impropriety in asking and encouraging the assistance of the church, while many churchmen deprecate the entrance of the church, as an organized body, into new and untried and disputed fields of activity. ”

“ Such are the degenerations of the brain, the heart and blood vessels, the liver, pancreas and kidneys; conditions which are accompanied by demonstrable changes in the structure of these organs, are often progressive in character, and usually incapable of repair. ”

“ The underlying principle of mind or faith healing is by no means new; it is probably as old as the race. It is the same principle that underlay the sacrificial offering of the ancients, and that underlies the pilgrimages to Lourdes, and the shrine of St. ”