That Which is Caesar’s by H. G. Woodley

Author:H. G. Woodley [Woodley, H. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir, Mental Illness, Psychiatry, PerditusLiber
ISBN: OCLC: 504877005
Publisher: Oxford, Pen-in-Hand Pub. Co.
Published: 1948-11-15T05:00:00+00:00

IX.

Now, in our journey through life, we frequently come across those whose conduct is not in accordance with the standards we have set up as indicating a correct way of living, and such departures from the normal we recognise in some cases as being due to the inability of the offender to understand what is required of him, because his mind is abnormal—which is to say, he is exactly the same as his fellow-men, except that his ideas, wishes and beliefs are not adopted by the great majority. Such people are divided into two groups—a distinction being made between those in whom the abnormality dates back to the earliest years, and those in whom the abnormality has occurred after development has proceeded sufficiently long to show that the person affected was normal to start with. This latter group is that of the Insane, and the former group is known as the Mentally Defective. In short, the insane person is bom rich with full brain capacity, and becomes poor owing to disease or

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pre-disposition in later life, whereas the mental defective has been born poor, and his brain never develops normally.

These mental defectives are divided into four main groups—Idiots, Imbeciles, Feeble-minded and Moral Defectives. The idiots and imbeciles are not subject to treatment or hope of any description; and although by treatment and close attention the feeble-minded may derive some little benefit, it is with the moral defective we should concern ourselves; for he is the off-spring of Instability—so that when we can find a ‘cure’ for Insanity, we shall also have a cure for Moral Defectiveness.

What are we doing towards finding this cure? Nothing! for the truth is that little or nothing can be done by our present system; and it is no exaggeration to say that since Christ entered the country of the Gadarenes, and encountered there the man whose name was Legion, nothing whatever has been done—unless it be that instead of the Chains that could not hold Legion, we now supply a padded room and some drugs. Alas, the evil spirits remain, and we are unable to cast them out—neither into swine nor elsewhere; for our present system at once checkmates Psychiatry. And so shall things remain until we decide to scatter psychiatric clinics throughout our land. We must talk less about Freud, and follow him post haste; for one thing at least is clear—that children are the problem and responsibility of our generation. Sore has been my heart as I have stood at the bed of a child in the asylum; but who cares? Who cares, indeed! Why, whilst I was in that asylum a child was born in the female ward there!

Ladies and gentlemen, please try to imagine what this means. An innocent child born in a lunatic asylum. What a tremendous calamity for that child—which might have been YOU. Think of the Birth Certificate, and then, with me, wonder when those responsible for such crimes will be brought to book. Obviously, no pregnant woman should be remitted to an asylum.

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