admired, he was absolutely miserable in his
married life. He had, in fact, a deep-rooted complex against marriage,
and had only allowed himself to be captured because the woman, with
whom he had been good friends, had cried when he refused to marry her.
During analysis it transpired that as a little boy of four he had
often seen his silly young mother cry because she could not have a new
dress. He had taken her side and bitterly felt that she was abused by
his father. Later, at six, he had heard some coarse stories about sex
to which he had over-reacted. Still later he had heard the workmen on
the farm say that they could not go to the gold-fields because they
had wives and were held back by marriage. "There are no idle words
where children are," and this little boy had built up such a strong
complex against marriage that he could not possibly be happy as a
grown man. He was as much crippled by the old scar as is an arm which
is bent and stunted from a deep scar in the flesh. After the analysis
had broken up the adhesions, he found himself free, able to give
mature expression to his repressed and dissatisfied love-instincts.

Psycho-analysis is not a process of addition, but one of subtraction.
Like a surgical operation, it undoes the results of old injuries,
removes foreign material, and gives nature a chance to develop freely
in her own satisfactory way.

RE-EDUCATION WITHOUT SUBCONSCIOUS EXPLORATION

=Simple Explanation.= So far, "the way out" sounds rather involved. It
seems to require a special kind of doctor and a complicated, lengthy
process before the exact trouble can be determined. But, fortunately
for the average nervous patient, this lengthy process of analysis is
by no means always necessary. People with troublesome nervous
symptoms, and even those who have had a serious breakdown, are
constantly being cured by a kind of re-education which breaks up
subconscious complexes without trying to bring them to the surface. If
the dead past can be let alone, so much the better. Sometimes a
bullet buried in the flesh sends up a constant stream of discomfort
until it is dug out and removed; but if it has carried in no infection
and the body can adjust itself, it is usually considered better to let
it remain.

The subconscious makes its own deductions. If resistances are not too
strong it is often possible to introduce healthy ideas by way of the
conscious reason, to break up old habits, and make over the menta