The Foundations of Normal and Abnormal Psychology/Part 2/XI

Each stimulation leaves after it some moment-disaggregation, a condition that makes further disaggregation more difficult. The more intense the stimulation is, the more extensive and deeper is the disaggregation, and hence, the more difficult further disaggregation becomes. If the stimulation is continued or made highly intense, a point is soon reached beyond which no stimulation can pass without giving rise to disaggregation having as its manifestation the different forms of pathological mental dissociation. The pathological process underlying the phenomena of abnormal mental life is not essentially different from the one taking place in normal states. If difference there be, it is not certainly one of a quality, but of degree.

The more intense a stimulation is, the more extensive is the process of disaggregation, the higher mounts the moment-threshold giving rise to the different phenomenon of psycho-physiological and psycho-motor dissociation. As expressed in a former work: "The process of disaggregation setting in under the action of strong and hurtful stimuli is not something new and different in kind from the usual; it is a continuation of the process of association and dissociation normally going on within the function and structure of higher constellations. The one process gradually passes into the other with the intensity of duration of the stimulus."

The process of disaggregation is a descending one, it proceeds from constellations to groups. Under the influence of strong stimulation such as mechanical and chemical agencies, and psychic affections, such as intense emotions of fear, anger, grief, anxiety, or worry, the degenerative process of disaggregation sets in, affecting first the higher aggregates and then with the continuity and intensity of the stimulations the process descends deeper and deeper affecting less complex aggregates, finally reaching the simplest aggregates of moments. The higher types of moments degenerate and fall to lower and lower stages of consciousness.

The Law of disaggregation as that of degeneration in general is from the complex to the simple. The lower moments, on account of the simplicity of their organization, are more stab]e, and are in a better condition to resist the disaggregating action of hurtful stimulations.

Furthermore, the lower and simpler an aggregate of moments is, the older it is, either phylogenetically or ontogenetically, and its stability is therefore more firmly assured by se]ection and adaptation. In the course of the life-existence of the individual and the species lower types of moments have come more often into activity, since the higher an aggregate is the later does it rise in the history of

This same process is going on not only in the history of the species by the eliminating action of natural selection, but also by the special adaptations brought about in the life experience of the individual. In phylogenesis the best and most firmly organized instincts survive, while in ontogenesis those habits are consciously or unconsciously selected which are most firmly established and are best adapted to the given end. At the same time the older an instinct is, the more thoroughly organized it becomes, the more is it enabled to withstand the onslaught of external hurtful stimuli. The same holds true in the case of habits. A habit of long standing is well organized, and it is often extremely difficult, if not impossible, to control.

Food instincts, sex instincts, social instincts, and personal moral life from an ascending series both as to time of appearance in the history of the species as well as complexity of structure and function. Food instincts in time and simplicity precede sex instincts, and sex instincts in their turn precede social instincts which antecede personal, moral life. Now we find that the instability is in the same ascending line. Food instincts are more stable than sex instincts, sex instincts are more stable than social instincts which are more firmly organized than a highly unified personal life, guided by a moral ideal. The structure and functions of the system of alimentation remain unchanged for ages; the sex instincts may become slightly modified for some period of time; the functions relating to social life vary from generation to generation, while the moral life guided by the moral ideal is highly individualized and personal.

In the downward course of mental disease-processes the degeneration is from the complex to the simple, from the stable to the unstable, from the highly organized to the lowly organized. In the different forms of mental diseases first the moral life, then the social instincts become affected, the patient becomes selfish, introspective, morally selfish, then loses all regard for others, becomes careless, wasteful and negligent of his vocations, life-work, and duties; his whole thought becomes concentrated on himself. In certain forms of mental alienation, such as melancholia and paranoia, the patient becomes suspicious of others, of his near and dear ones, becomes cruel and revengeful, sometimes ending by attacking his own friends and near relatives, and committing homicide. When the deterioration of personal moral life and social instincts is well under way, degeneration of other functions sets in,―the patient gives himself over to excesses, to all kinds of debauches, and indulges in the different forms of abnormal sexual practices. Only very late in the course of the disease are the food instincts in any way affected.

Even in the lighter forms of psychic degenerative forms that lie on the borderland of mental alienation, such, for instance, as are present in the various forms of psychopathic maladies we still find that the same relation holds good. Moral life is the first to be affected. Social instincts, follow, while disturbances of sex and food instincts set in very late in the course of the pathological process of disaggregation and degeneration.

In the mentally defective, such as in imbeciles, idiots, and cretins we once more find that our law holds good. The depth of the congenital mental degeneration is from moral to social, then to sex, and last to food instincts. In the imbecile, only the moral, social, and intellectual activities are affected, the imbecility being according to the depth of the degeneration, the other instincts are more or less normal. In the idiot and cretin the process of degeneration has gone still deeper and sex and food instincts with their psycho-physiological functions and psychomotor adjustments become affected, the idiocy being in proportion to the gravity of the affection.

The phenomena manifested under the action of narcosis go further to confirm the same point of view. Moral, personal life is the first to succumb, other activities follow in the order of their complexity and duration of function. In other words, the law of disaggregation or that of degeneration is from the complex to the simple, from the highly organized to the lowly organized, from the least stable to the most stable. This stability is proportionate to the complexity of moment aggregates, and the frequency and duration of their associative activity.

In habits, formed within the life time of the individual, the same law holds 'true. Old habits become inveterate, habits formed in childhood and perpetuated can hardly be eradicated, while those that are formed later in life become more easily dissolved. Complex habits formed in late life, relating to moral life and social intercourse, become dissolved at the first onset of the process of mental degeneration, while habits formed early in life, such as handling spoons, fork, and plate or dressing and buttoning the coat long resist the degenerative process. Paretics and patients of secondary dementia in general, though far advanced on the downward path of degeneration, are still for some time able to attend to the simpler functions of life activity, such as dressing and feeding. Once more we are confronted with facts pointing to the same law that the process of degeneration of which disaggregation constitutes a stage is from the highly to the lowly organized, from the complex to the simple.

If we observe more closely the history and stages of disaggregation, we find that, although the process itself is going on within the centre nucleus of the aggregate, the course of the process is inverse, from the periphery to the centre. This law is really a corrolary of the first law of degeneration. For the nucleus of the moment aggregate usually consists of moments that have early become organized, and round which more moments gather from all sides, the aggregate finally attaining a high grade of organization. The further away from the centre or from the nucleus, the newer is the formation of the strata of moments, and the more unstable is their structural and functional relationship within the total aggregate. Hence, when the process of degeneration sets in affecting the controlling nucleus, the associative ties of moments within the aggregate become lowered, and the newest strata, the most remote from the nucleus are the first to be affected, the process passing from newer to older strata. In other words, the process of degeneration is from periphery to centre.

In the building up of a moment-aggregate the early deposits are less complex than the later deposits which are not as yet well organized by use and adaptation. The child under my observation learned early that the shining point yonder in the "ky" (sky) is "venu(s) the (s)tar," and when absent it is "hidden by a c(l)oud." This knowledge is certainly extremely meagre, but still it forms the nucleus round which gradually more knowledge will become formed and organized. The child will learn the dimensions of the planet, its distance from the earth, its orbit, its relation as a member within the solar system, relations that may be extended endlessly, making the whole moment-aggregate more and more highly complex and unstable.

If we turn to motor adaptations, we find a similar course of development. It took the infant time before out of the aimless series of spontaneous motor reactions some definite adaptations emerged relative to external visual stimuli, so that he learned to grasp the object yonder. These grasping motor reactions are at first crude and inexact. The distance of objects is often mistaken, and the child stretches his hand to fetch distant objects, while small objects cannot be picked up; the hand often goes in the wrong direction and objects are often dropped, because the reactions are not exact and steady. Still these grasping movements form the nucleus for the formation of new and more complex strata of motor reactions. He learns the delicate adaptations of grasping small objects and the fine adjustments of producing a series of highly complex and extremely delicate motor reactions, such for instance as one finds in the handling of instruments, reading, writing in the execution of musical pieces, in singing, and piano playing. All these motor reactions as they become more complex and delicate are further and further removed from the organized nucleus.

What happens now in the descending process of dissolution? The reverse process takes place. The more complex the psycho-motor structure is, and the further it is removed from the original nucleus, the more easily does it become disintegrated in the downward course of the process of degeneration. In the different forms of mental diseases, such as the various types of mania melancholia, paranoia, general paresis, primary dementia, dementia praecox, senile dementia, and in all those chronic forms that end in secondary dementia, adaptations and acquisitions further removed from the original nucleus, constituting the simple relations of things acquired in early youth and childhood gradually become disintegrated. The more remote the stratum is from the central nucleus the earlier does dissolution set in.

With the setting in of the process of dissolution the scientist, the professor, the student loses by degrees the lately acquired wealth of knowledge, the complex and delicately balanced conceptual structure of scientific relationship; the more remotely related to the original nucleus of sense experience is the first to become shaken and tumble down. When the degenerative process has gone far enough, the original meagre nucleus of sense-experience becomes disintegrated in its turn.

With the onset of the process of degeneration the banker, the business man, the speculator, gradually begin to lose the understanding of those speculative aspects of business adaptations and adjustments that are remotely related to the original nucleus of self-preservation. With the further advance of the process of disintegration, more stable strata, more nearly related to the original nucleus become affected, until finally the nucleus itself is reached and its constituents are affected, the patient is unable to take care of himself.

In motor reactions we find that the same law holds true. The finer, the more complex a given activity is, the more remote it is from the primary nucleus of motor adaptations, the easier and sooner does it become disintegrated in the course of the pathological process. The musician, the virtuoso loses the power of infusing harmony, life, and emotion into the play; the painter loses control over his brush, the singer over his voice; the watchmaker, or the mechanician is unable to regulate the fine movements of the spring, the wheels of the delicate mechanism, and the mechanic is unable to handle his instruments. Drawing deteriorates, writing is impaired and defective. The liquid "r" a sound which children acquire late becomes difficult, if not impossible to pronounce. The speech test of general paralysis is well known. The patient is unable to repeat such a simple formula as "round about the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran," or "truly rural."

With the further advance of the process, such simple actions as picking up a pin, or threading a needle are executed with great difficulty, and much hesitation. To produce a straight line or to draw a circle becomes impossible. Involuntary tremor is predominant, a tremor, the rhythmical regularity of which becomes fully manifested in senile degeneration, and which is also observed, though without its rhythmical regularity, on the very eve of mental life, in infancy.