Excerpt from The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 6: 1911-1912 A very limited experience will suffice to impress upon the psychotherapist that he has in the main to deal with two disparate sets Of phenomena: first, the symptoms in so far as they are present directly to the patient's consciousness; and second, the interpretation which the patient inevitably places upon these symptoms. The former are, Of course, the immediate facts in the case, the latter an attempt to give them a meaning. And were it possible to sunder things so intimately united as facts and their meanings, I should not hesitate to say that the actual pains and aches and dis comforts, great as they are, which nervous people endure, cause a less appreciable amount Of suffering than the mean ings which they assume these aches and pains and discom forts to convey. Fear and its Offspring, introspection, are the evil geniuses Of nervous people. It is not the loss Of memory in itself, but the approaching insanity that they believe it to announce, Of which they are afraid; not the pain in the back, but the Bright's disease which it is thought to forebode; not the tingling and numbness in the legs, but the impending locomotor ataxia; not the indigestion, but the cancer with which they believe this to be associated. In the presence of fears such as these and a thousand like them, psycho therapy reaps, perhaps, its most fruitful harvest of re education. Where so much is curious, the most curious thing about it all is that, as a rule, the average patient will not immediately or spontaneously disclose the existence of this gnawing fear. With some effort, and even persistence, you may be compelled to win the reluctant admission from him; and having once Obtained it, you will be surprised to hear him tell you that he failed to mention his fears, either because he did not think it necessary or because he did not wish you to confirm his suspicions, or because, perhaps, you might laugh at what you considered to be the absurdity Of his apprehensions. It is a rule, with but few exceptions, that this background Of fear, more or less pronounced, will be found in every instance, and hence it becomes Of the ut most importance to look for it, and, in so far as possible, to remove it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.