Psychotherapy / Including the History of the Use of Mental Influence, Directly and Indirectly, in Healing and the Principles for the Application of Energies Derived from the Mind to the Treatment of Disease

During the transcription of this book Dr. Michael Stewart of the Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL., diagnosed me with a retinal condition that had deprived me of the ability to read with my left eye. His skilled surgery corrected the condition. I dedicate this transcription to Dr. Stewart and the skilled and thoughtful staff of Mayo.
INCLUDING THE HISTORY OF THE USE OF MENTAL INFLUENCE, DIRECTLY AND INDIRECTLY, IN HEALING AND THE PRINCIPLES FOR THE APPLICATION OF ENERGIES DERIVED FROM THE MIND TO THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE. BY JAMES J. WALSH, M.D.. Ph.D. DEAN AND PROFESSOR OF FUNCTIONAL NERVOUS DISEASE AND OF THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AT FORDHAM UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, AND OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY AT CATHEDRAL COLLEGE, NEW YORK; FELLOW OF NEW YORK ACADEMY OF MEDICINE; MEMBER A.M.A., A.A.A.S., NEW YORK STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY, GERMAN SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE AND THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES, NEW ORLEANS PARISH MEDICAL SOCIETY, ST. LOUIS MEDICAL HISTORY CLUB, ETC. NEW YORK AND LONDON D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 1912 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY Printed in New York, U. S. A. TO THE JESUITS TO WHOM THE AUTHOR OWES A HAPPY INTRODUCTION TO THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE AND CONSTANTLY RENEWED INSPIRATION IN HIS WORK THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
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Prefaces are a great waste of time, said Francis Bacon, and, though they seem to proceed of modesty, they are bravery. In spite of this deterring expression of the Lord Chancellor, the author ventures to write a short apologia pro libro suo . Five years ago he began at Fordham University School of Medicine a series of lectures on Psychotherapy. This book consists of material gathered for these lectures. It will be found in many ways to partake more of the nature of a course of lectures than a true text-book. In this it follows French rather than English or American precedent. Its relation to lectures makes it more diffuse than the author would have wished, but this is offered as an explanation, not an excuse. Addressed to medical students and not specialists the language employed is as untechnical as possible, and, indeed, was meant as a rule to be such as young physicians might use to their patients for suggestion purposes.