Page:The Modern Treatment of Mental and Nervous Disorders.djvu/7



" modern treatment of mental and nervous disorders " is a title which covers a very wide field, a field so wide that to deal with it in any comprehensive and detailed manner within the limits of a single lecture is obviously impracticable. It is, moreover, a highly technical field, requiring for its adequate understanding a theoretical and practical knowledge of medicine which I cannot assume my present audience to possess. The goal which I hope to achieve is, however, a comparatively modest one, and I shall only endeavour to set forth certain aspects of the subject which are of general and not merely of medical interest. In particular I propose to call attention to certain problems which are of importance to the lay public, because their solution vitally concerns the public health.

"Mental and nervous disorder" is a popular rather than a technical term, and, like all such terms, its meaning is somewhat loose and indefinite, but, with the help of a few additional words of explanation, it will be sufficiently precise for our present purpose. By "mental disorder" is meant actual insanity, and those minor mental disturbances which are stages on the road to insanity. By "nervous disorder" is meant only those conditions which are technically