needs a system of forgetfulness.
Lethe is often a greater friend than Mnemosyne.

To brood on disappointments, failures and griefs only wastes energy, sours
temper, and upsets the general health. Resolve _beforehand_ that when
unhappy ideas arise you will _not_ dwell on them, but turn your thoughts to
pleasant trifles; take up a humorous book, or take a turn in the fresh air,
and you will soon acquire the habit of laughing instead of whining at Fate.

To sum up: Go slow! Your neurons have been exhausted in your foolish
attempt to "live this day as if thy last" in a wrong sense; feverish
activity and unnecessary work must be abandoned to enable the nerves to
recuperate.

When the doctor says "rest", he means "_rest_", not change your bustle from
work to what you are pleased to regard as play.

So much is _absolute rest_ recognized as the foundation of treatment, that
severe cases undergo the "Weir-Mitchell Treatment". The patient is _utterly
secluded_; letters, reading, talking, smoking and visits from friends are
forbidden. He is put to bed, not allowed even to sit up, sees no one save
nurse and doctor, is massaged, treated electrically, grossly overfed,
fattened up, and freed from every care.

In leaving his habitual circle, the patient escapes the too-attentive care
of his relatives, and the incessant questions about his complaint with
which they overwhelm him. The results of this regime with semi-insane
wrecks are marvellous. It is a very drastic but very successful
"rest-cure", and while it cannot be undergone at home, neurasthenics will
benefit by following its principles as far as they can in their own homes.

High-frequency or static electricity sometimes works wonders in the hands
of a specialist, but the electric batteries, medical coils, finger-rings
and body-belts so persistently advertised are _useless_.

When the patient has in some measure recuperated, he may try the following
exercises in mental concentration. Vittoz claims good results from them,
but they must be done quite seriously.

1. Walk a few steps with the definite idea that you are putting forward
right and left feet alternately. Go on by easy stages until you
concentrate on the movement of the whole body.

2. Take any object in your hand, and note its exact form, weight,
colour, etc.

3. Look in a shop-window while you count ten, and as you walk on, try
to recall all the objects therein exhibited.

4.