itis, but which did not correspond to the physiological picture of
that disease. A consultation revealed the fact that her love-instinct
had been repeatedly stimulated, and then at the last, when it had
expected satisfaction, had been disappointed. A discussion of her
life, its inner forces, and her future aims helped to pull her
together again and give her instinct new outlets. The pains and the
fatigue disappeared at once.

=Something Wrong.= These cases are chosen at random and are typical of
scores of others. In no single case was the trouble feigned or
imaginary or unreal. But in every case it was a mistake. _The sense of
loss of muscular power was really a sense of loss of power on the part
of the soul._ Some inner force was reaching out, reaching out after
something which it could never quite attain. As it happened, in every
case that I analyzed, the force which felt itself defeated and
inadequate was the thwarted instinct of reproduction. Like a man
pinned to the ground by a stronger force, it felt itself most helpless
while struggling the hardest. Just as we feel a thrill of fright when
we step up in the dark and find no step there, so this instinct had
gotten itself ready for a step which was not there. Inner repressions
or outer circumstances had denied satisfaction and left only an
undefined sense that something was wrong. The life-force, feeling
itself helpless, limp, tired, had no way of expressing itself except
in terms of the body. Since expression is itself a relief and an
outlet for feeling, the denied desire had seized on suggestions of
overwork to explain its sense of weariness, and had symbolized its
soul-pain by converting it into a physical pain. The feeling of
inadequacy was very real, but it was simply displaced from one part of
the personality to another,--from an unknown, inarticulate part to one
which was more familiar and which had its own means of expression.

=Locked-up Energy.= We do not know just how the soul can make its pain
so intensely real to the body, but we do know that any conviction on
the part of the subconscious mind is quickly expressed in the physical
machine. A conviction of pain or of powerlessness is very soon
converted into a feeling which can scarcely be denied. The mere
suggestion that the body is overworked is enough to make it tired.

We know, too, that the instincts are the great releasers of energy. So
it happens that when our most dynamic instinct--that for the