Chapter X: In Conclusion 303 (6)

The helpfulness of dream-analysis to parents comes from the fact that the dreams of children usually relate either to things which the children dread, or things which they desire. This is also true of the dreams of adults, as shown by the analysis of thousands of dreams. In the case of adults, however, the fear or the desire mirrored by the dream is nearly always masked by the variety and seeming absurdity or incongruity of the dream-images. As when, for example, a complicated, fantastic dream of adventure in an out-of-the-way part of the world is found, on examination, to be connected with a secret longing for marriage. Accordingly, prolonged and tedious analysis is often needed to get at the true meaning of an adult's dreams. In the case of children's dreams, the opposite is the rule. There is little repression or distortion, the dream dealing directly with what is uppermost in the dreamer's waking mind, and emphasising the fears or fulfilling the wishes of his waking life.

This is what makes dream-analysis both easy and profitable to parents. Once aware of the wish-fulfilling rôle of dreams, no parent need experience difficulty in interpretation if his small boy reports to him a series of dreams like the following:

"It was after school, and I went with other boys to a candy store, and the storekeeper told us we could have anything we wanted. We had a fine time. I filled my pockets with chocolates and caramels and peanut candy, besides what I ate while I was in the store.

"I was at a party, and there was plenty to eat and drink. We had sandwiches and lemonade, ice cream and cake. After it was over, they told us we could take away all the food that was not eaten.

"There was a fire in the next street, and I went to see the firemen at work. It was rainy and cold, and somebody brought out coffee and cake for the firemen. There was more than they could eat, so they gave me some."

Dreamed by a small boy living in a poor home, dreams like these would be of a pathetic, rather than sinister, import. For they would represent the imaginary fulfilment of wishes unrealisable in the waking life, and would thus be a subconscious protest against the cramping limitations of poverty. Even so, whether the youthful dreamer were the son of poor parents or the son of parents comfortably circumstanced, it would be an unescapable inference that, when awake, he was inclined to think overmuch of his stomach. Wherefore, dreams like these, if dreamed with any frequency, would unmistakably suggest the desirability of training to check a tendency to gluttony and greed.

The frequency with which dreams of a given type are dreamed has, indeed, much to do with their significance as indicators of character defects. An occasional dream of gorging one's self--or, say, of being the centre of attraction at an evening party--would not be valid ground for indicting a little boy of greed, or a little girl of vanity. But, if such dreams are habitual, or if, despite a seeming variety in the dreams reported by son or daughter, there is discernible an undercurrent of desires incompatible with strength and beauty of character, then the wise parent will not delay in supplementing dream study by educational measures to correct the indicated defects.

And, as emphasised by the experiences of many of the youthful nervous patients whose case-histories have been given in this book, dream-analysis should particularly be utilised to help children who--being free from adenoids, eye-strain, or other adverse physical conditions--show a sudden and unfavourable change in disposition. Some cause of emotional stress is undoubtedly present, and it may be taken for granted that the child will betray, through the content of his dreams, what is troubling his mind. Dream-analysis will thus give insight into secret jealousies, secret desires, secret fears, secret mental conflicts of many kinds, that are provocative both of unfavourable changes in character and of outright ill health.

One such conflict, to which I have already referred when discussing the handicap of sulkiness, is conflict over sex questions. Frequently, to the parents' astonishment, it will be found that the actual cause of timidity, reticence, moodiness, or depression of spirits in a formerly happy child, is a mental conflict due to the child's vain endeavours to work out fully satisfactory answers to delicate questions which the parents have not answered when put to them by the child, or have answered in an evasive fashion. Children are far more discerning than most parents give them credit for being. Also, they often are more interested than most parents suppose in some of the fundamental problems of existence--and especially the problem of their own nature and origin. The scientific study of dreams, indeed, has furnished an additional and powerful argument against the common practice among parents of veiling in mystery or concealing with well-intentioned falsehoods the facts of birth and of sex.

But let me quote, at this point, the findings of an English medical psychologist, Doctor Ernest Jones, of London, who has specially studied the reactions of children to the policy of silence and mystification regarding sex matters.

"The extent to which such matters occupy the mind of the young child," says Doctor Jones, "is always underestimated by adults, and is impossible to determine by a casual examination, for, on the one hand, the later memories for these years are always deficient and erroneous, and, on the other hand, this aspect of the child's mind is rarely accessible to direct inquiry, on account of the barrier always existing on the subject between child and adult. As the child grows older, the desires and tendencies in question meet with such obstacles as an increasing sense of shame, guilt, wrongness, remorse, and so on, and are fought against by the child, who now half-consciously strives to get away from them, to forget them, or, as it is technically termed, to "repress" them. The repressed mental processes are later thus forgotten, and, along with them, a major part of the mental experiences associated with them in time. This is the reason why so little of early childhood life can be recalled by the adult.

"The desires, thoughts, impulses, tendencies, and wishes thus repressed do not, however, die; they live on, but come to expression in other forms. Their energy is directed along more useful paths, a process known as "sublimation," and upon the extent and kind of this sublimation depends a great deal of the future interests and activities of the individual."[19]

Under certain conditions, instead of smooth, successful sublimation, there may be mental conflict, with nervous or mental maladies as a possible result. To this undesirable outcome the parental course sometimes contributes materially. Again, I quote Doctor Jones:

"It is almost a regular occurrence for children of the age of four or five to turn from their parents, to withdraw into themselves, and to pursue private speculations about the topics concerning which they have been denied information, whether by a direct refusal or by evasion. Phantasies of bitter resentment against the parent commonly occur at this time, and often form the basis not only of a later want of confidence, or even a more or less veiled hostility as regards the parents, but also of various subsequent disharmonies, neurotic disturbances, and so forth."

Of course, readers of these pages scarcely need to be reminded, conflict over questions of birth and sex is only one form of emotional stress that may occasion night terrors, somnambulism, changes in character, and unmistakable nervous ailments. Whatever the stress, it will be indicated by the child's dreams, either directly or symbolically. Which, of itself, is abundant reason for parents to gain knowledge of at least the chief principles of scientific dream-interpretation.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 17: _Archives of Pediatrics_, December, 1914.]

[Footnote 18: _Archives of Pediatrics_, December, 1914.]

[Footnote 19: _The Journal of Educational Psychology_, November, 1910.]

IN CONCLUSION

X

IN CONCLUSION

From what has been said in the foregoing pages, it is an irresistible inference that the greatest of all handicaps a child can have, short of being born hopelessly deficient, is to be born into a home where he will be exposed to mind-deadening or emotion-stressing influences--a home where he will receive neither adequate mental stimulus nor adequate moral training. Under such circumstances, so profound is the influence of the early environment, his growth to a normal manhood is impossible, unless other and more favourable influences from outside the home affect him with sufficient force to offset the home surroundings. Fortunately, this happens in many cases, but, as hospital, asylum, and court records testify in sad abundance, in many cases the adverse home environment proves indeed decisive.

And, on the opposite, that child is unquestionably getting the best possible start in life who is born of parents appreciative of his mental needs, sincerely devoted to him, but not over-devoted, watchful of his physical health and alert to prevent him from becoming a slave to his emotions. The purpose of both this book and its predecessor, "Psychology and Parenthood," has been to help this latter class of parents and, perchance, to awaken other parents to the need for giving more care and intelligent attention to their children than they have hitherto been doing.

Certainly, the discoveries of modern psychology and physiology have made it increasingly evident that the business of child-rearing is, of all businesses, far and away the most important to the race. And it is a business that has become more important than it ever was in the past, because of the greater demands made on human mentality, and the more numerous sources of stress on human emotionality that are involved in the increasing complexity of civilised life. Either the clock of progress must be stopped and the world revert to more primitive modes of living, or else the men and women of the days to come must be conditioned, through wiser educational methods that begin in the first years of life, to adapt themselves more smoothly to the modern environment.

We do not want to stop the clock of progress. But neither could we wish to see the people of the world degenerate into a race of psychasthenes, neurasthenes, and otherwise mentally or nervously disorganised men and women. Happily, means of attaining smoother adaptation, of increasing both the mental vigour and the nervous resistance of the race are now available. They are available, thanks chiefly to the labours of the medical psychologists. And it is my hope that, by stressing the adaptatory elements in their discoveries and presenting them concretely to the lay reader, I may have contributed something to promote appreciation of these elements by parents in general, and appropriate action for the benefit of the growing generation. First and last, be it clearly understood, it is on the development of a really efficient parenthood that the future of society depends.

INDEX

Adenoids, and mental backwardness, 23, 26;
and sulkiness, 70-71.

Anger, effects of, 87-92.

Ayres, L. P., 6, 7, 24.

Bashfulness, 167-187;
two types of, 171-172;
causes, 171-176;
cure, 177-186;
prevention, 186-187, 202-203.

Bechterew, W., 165, 180-181, 185.

Binet, A., 3, 5, 9.

Binet-Simon tests, 9-10, 13-17.

Bohannon, E. W., 41-46, 48-49.

Brill, A. A., 47, 58, 182-184, 234-237, 244-248, 251, 255-257.

Cannon, W. B., 90, 91, 93.

Cases:
Abnormal irritability, 251-253.
Abnormal timidity, 253-255.
Bashfulness, 165-169, 177-185.
Binet's dullard, 3-4.
Binet-Simon experiments, 13-18.
Crime from jealousy, 99-101.
Curable dullness, 11-13, 18-19, 21-24, 25-28, 70-71.
"Day terrors," 276-278.
Fear of blood, 255-258.
Fear of insanity, 284-287.
Hysteria from jealousy, 103-105.
Hysterical paralysis, 139-147
Indecision, 188-191, 195-198.
Jealous dullards, 113-114.
Jealousy of mother, 116-118.
Mental backwardness from physical causes, 21-24, 25-28.
Nervous depression, 134-139.
Nervous dullards, 11-13.
"Night terrors," 273-274, 280-283, 284-287.
Obsession of sin, 266-267.
Obsession to murder, 122-123.
Obsession to torture, 244-249.
"Only children," 37-40, 50-51, 54-55.
Pathological lying, 263-265.
Physiology of emotions, 88-89, 91, 93-94.
Stammering, 211-212, 214-215, 218-220, 226-237.
Sulkiness, 67-69, 70-71, 72-73, 77-79.
Unemployability, 63-65.

Children's lies, 119-121, 263-265.

Chorea, 74-75.

Chubb, P., 250.

Coriat, I. H., 48, 226_n_, 230-233.

Cornman, O. P., 5, 7.

Crime, causes and prevention, 155-157.

Cruelty, sexual element in, 160.

Dark, fear of the, 258-260.

Darwin, C., 107, 172.

Dattner, B., 226-230.

Davidson, P. E., 28.

"Day terrors", 276-279.

Dearborn, G. V. N., 95.

Dieffenbach, J. F., 207, 208, 209, 238.

Divorce, statistics of, 152-153;
causes, 154-155, 159.

Dream-analysis, 117, 135, 252, 291-295.

Dubois, P., 79.

Ellis, H., 47, 84-85, 160.

Exercise, and moral control, 200-201.

Eye-strain, and mental backwardness, 26;
and sulkiness, 72-73.

Fairy tales, 243-265;
harmful effects, 244-249, 251-261;
good effects, 249-251, 263, 265;
the war and, 261-262.

Favorite child, the, 55-59.

Feeble-mindedness. See Mental backwardness.

Fiske, C. H., 91.

Fresh air, and moral control, 200.

Freud, S., 234.

Gesell, A. L., 107.

Hall, G. S., 120, 263-265.

Hartenberg, P., 168, 184.

Holmes, A., 18.

Hypnotism, 229, 232.

Imitation, 79-80.
See also Suggestion.

Indecision, morbid, 187-203;
causes of, 194-199;
cure and prevention, 199-203.

Indigestion, and sulkiness, 66-68.

Inferiority, feeling of, 81-82, 113-114.

Insanity, causes and prevention, 157-158.

Jealousy, 99-128;
crimes caused by, 99-101;
parental attitude to, 101-102;
and disease, 103-106, 116-123;
in early infancy, 107;
causes, 107-115;
prevention, 123-127.

Jones, E., 296, 298.

Kyle, D. B., 212.

Luckey, G. W. A., 30.

Marriage, 151-161.

Maxwell, W. H., 7.

Mental backwardness, extent of, 5-6;
causes, 6-7, 9-13, 18-25, 28-30;
treatment, 25-28;
agencies to correct, 31-32.

Mental training, need for early, 126-127, 187.

Moral training, need for early, 29-30, 38-39, 48-49, 52-55, 76-79,
106-107, 132-134, 149, 157-159, 199, 203, 240, 287.

Mosso, A., 243.

Meyerson, A., 144-146.

"Nagging," 82.

Nervous disorders, and backwardness, 12-13;
"only children" and, 44, 48;
faulty training and, 48-50;
"favorite children" and, 56-58;
and sulkiness, 67-69, 72-75, 84;
and jealousy, 103-107, 115-123;
and selfishness, 132-150;
bashfulness and, 175-186;
indecision and, 188-191, 194-199;
stammering and, 222-239;
fairy tales and, 244-249, 251-260;
"night terrors" and, 276, 284.

"Night terrors," 271-299;
description, 272-274;
traditional explanation, 274;
modern view, 275-283;
need for treatment, 284-287;
prevention, 287-299.
Also mentioned, 38, 39, 254.

Only child, the, 37-55;
nervousness of, 44, 47-48;
precocity, 44;
social inadaptability, 44-45;
effeminacy, 46;
in adult life, 47-48;
how spoiled, 48-55.

O'Shea, M. V., 108.

Physiology of emotions, 87-95.

"Poltergeists," 119-120.

Precocity, 44.

Psychological clinics in United States, 31-32.

Putnam, J. J., 48.

Race conservation, 304-306.

Religious instruction, 265-267.

Retardation. See Mental backwardness.

Rowan, C. L., 213.

Selfishness, 131-161;
and nervous disorders, 132-150;
and marriage, 151-161.

Sex, mental conflict regarding, 83-85, 296-299;
education in, 159-161.

Sidis, B., 190, 192, 284-287.

Simon, Professor, 9.

Somnambulism, 289-290.

Stammering, 207-240;
Dieffenbach and, 207-208;
peculiarities of, 210-217;
psychological treatment, 220-221, 225-238;
causes, 221-225, 238;
organic disease and, 226_n;_
difficulty of cure, 239;
prevention, 239-240.

Suggestion, 53, 80, 125, 224, 225.

Sulkiness, significance of, 65-66;
causes and treatment, 66-86;
physiological effects, 87-94.

Teeth, and mental backwardness, 26;
and sulkiness, 71-72, 75.

Underfeeding, and sulkiness, 69.

Wallin, J. E. W., 11-18.

Walsh, J. J., 148, 194_n_.

White, W. A., 260.

Williams, T. A., 67, 68, 259, 276-280.

Witmer, L., 20, 21, 23, 25, 28, 31.

Wood, P. R., 73.

Worry, effects of, 92-94.

* * * * *

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Transcriber notes: |
| |
| P. 27. 'vigourous' changed to 'vigorous'. |
| P. 34. and 71. 'dulness' changed to 'dullness'. |
| P. 99. 'woful' changed to 'woeful'. |
| P. 200. 'energtic' changed to 'energetic'. |
| P. 233. 'lived though them', changed 'though' to 'through'. |
| P. 243. 'Thus the famous', changed to 'Thus said the famous' |
| as it is a quote. |
| P. 292. 'fulfiling' changed to 'fulfilling'. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

End of Project Gutenberg's Handicaps of Childhood, by H. Addington Bruce