CHAPTER XV

In which we learn discrimination.

CHOOSING OUR EMOTIONS 359

CHAPTER XVI

In which we find new use for our steam.

FINDING VENT IN SUBLIMATION 379

GLOSSARY 386

BIBLIOGRAPHY 390

INDEX 393

OUTWITTING OUR NERVES

CHAPTER I

_In Which Most of Us Plead Guilty to the Charge of "Nerves."_

NERVOUS FOLK

WHO'S WHO

Whenever the subject of "nerves" is mentioned most people begin trying
to prove an alibi. The man who is nervous and knows that he is
nervous, realizes that he needs help, but the man who has as yet felt
no lack of stability in himself is quite likely to be impatient with
that whole class of people who are liable to nervous breakdown. It is
therefore well to remind ourselves at once that the line between the
so-called "normal" and the nervous is an exceedingly fine one.
"Nervous invalids and well people are indistinguishable both in theory
and in practice,"[1] and "after all we are most of us more or less
neurasthenic."[2] The fact is that everybody is a possible neurotic.

[Footnote 1: Putnam: _Human Motives_, p. 117.]

[Footnote 2: DuBois: _Physic Treatment of Nervous Disorders_, p. 172.]

So, as we think about nervous folk and begin to recognize our friends
and relatives in this class, it may be that some of us will
unexpectedly find ourselves looking in the mirror. Some of our
lifelong habits may turn out to be nervous tricks. At any rate, it
behooves us to be careful about throwing stones, for most of us live
in houses that are at least part glass.

THE EARMARKS

=Am I "Like Folks"?= Before we begin to talk about the real sufferer
from "nerves," the nervous invalid, let us look for some of the
earmarks that are often found on the supposedly well person. All of
these signs are deviations from the normal and are sure indications of
nervousness. The test question for each individual is this: "Am I
'like folks'?" To be normal and to be well is to be "like folks." Can
the average man stand this or that? If he can, then you are not normal
if you cannot. Do the people around you eat the thing that upsets you?
If they do, ten chances to one your trouble is not a physical
idiosyncrasy, but a nervous habit. In bodily matters, at least, it is
a good thing to be one of the crowd.

Many people who would resent being called anything but normal--in
general--are not at all loth to be thought "different," when it comes
to particulars. Are the