What would Tolstoy have said had he witnessed the full blown art of our movies?
What the movies and literature accomplish in the world of art and letters, that is what psychoanalysis and mental tests achieve in normal and abnormal psychology.
The mediocrity of the modern man is akin to the vulgarity of the ancient freedman, so well described by Petronius in his type of Trimalchio. Both, the greedy freedman and the “efficient” freeman, have the same deleterious influence on the course of civilization.
Our age is not the age of Democracy, but of Mediocrity. It is in such an age that sensationalism, movies, and psychoanalysis are apt to flourish like green bay trees.
The reader will find that I often turn to Social Psychology. This is requisite. As I carry on my work on nervous ills I become more and more convinced that a knowledge of Social Psychology is essential to a clear comprehension of nervous ills.
The number of cases given in the volume will, I am sure, be of great help to the reader. For the concrete cases, carefully studied by me, bring out distinctly the mechanism, the factors, and the main principles of nervous ills.
I address this volume to the reader who wishes to learn the truth, not to those who are in search for ever new amusements, or for the “best seller” of the year. I hope that this work will prove of value to the thoughtful physician and of interest to the cultured layman.
I further hope that my reader will not be offended by my statements about superstitions. I address myself to the liberal-minded reader who does not care to follow the herd.
Boris Sidis