Adoption of personal hygiene, then, and prevention of complications by their early detection and treatment—these we want for every woman who is looking forward to motherhood.
For lack of these things there are sick and blind and maimed babies and invalid women; there are lonely, motherless children and bereaved mothers in every corner of our land.
CHAPTER VII
MENTAL HYGIENE OF THE EXPECTANT MOTHER
It is only once in a long time that the obstetrical nurse has a patient who is suffering from such a marked mental disturbance that her condition is diagnosed and treated as a psychosis. But more often than not she has a patient who is secretly suffering a good deal of mental stress and pain, which is not recognized and not treated.
In fact, by virtue of the deep significance of the states of pregnancy and motherhood, and the long period of time through which they continue, it is scarcely possible for them not to produce a mental effect of some sort upon the average woman. Sometimes this effect is a very happy one; but all too often it is quite the reverse. It is safe to say that the majority of maternity patients are passing through deep waters, and the nurse’s usefulness to these charges will be greatly broadened if she has at least some understanding of the cause and character of these mental sufferings.
In the ordinary course of events, from birth to death, we all of us are being called upon continuously to adjust ourselves to all sorts of experiences, situations and emotional strains peculiar first to early childhood, then the school epoch, the period of emancipation from home and finally to the life work. And as we take our way, we develop habits of meeting the sorrow and disappointments that come; the anxiety, criticism, success, failure, illness, poverty and what not.
Some individuals habitually face the issues of life, whether large or small, and habitually overcome difficulties for themselves and for other people. They are described by the psychiatrists as being grown up, or psychologically evolved.
Others follow the course of least resistance; never face their problems; are thoughtless and inconsiderate in their demands; are unable to make decisions and accordingly live upon the mental and moral strength of others. Such people are referred to as being infantile, or psychologically undeveloped. They are not unlike the baby who gets “what he wants when he wants it” by the unreasoning method of screaming and pounding upon his high chair with a spoon. He is scarcely more irresponsible than the hysterical adult who gains her point by developing a headache or fainting, flying into a rage or tearing her clothes and smashing china. Such people make little or no adjustment to unsatisfactory conditions and have poor capacity for endurance or sacrifice.
With not a few women this poor capacity is a result of lifelong indulgence or protection by unwise parents, and they never reason out the question of obligation or responsibility because they never have to. Everything is done for them. All rough places are so consistently smoothed out that they never entertain the idea that effort or adaptation on their part could possibly be in order.
There are others who cherish trouble, make difficulty where there need be none and steadfastly refuse to acknowledge good fortune or see the silver lining. This is their method of securing attention, much as the baby cries or screams to the same end.