sensitive mind
of the child the reception of a severe shock may have effects long
after the memory of it has disappeared from consciousness. In a
medical journal there was recently recounted the case of an officer of
the R.A.M.C. who all his life had suffered from claustrophobia--the
fear of being shut up in a closed space. By skilful questioning, the
remembrance of a terrifying incident in his childhood was regained. As
a child of five he had been shut in a passage in a strange house by
the accidental banging to of a door, unable to escape from the
attentions of a growling dog. A complete cure was said to follow upon
the discovery that in this incident lay the origin of the phobia.
Nevertheless, observation would lead me to lay the greater stress not
upon any one particular shocking or terrifying experience, but upon
the attitude of parents and nurses in focusing the child's attention
upon the danger, and in sapping his confidence by showing their own
apprehensions and communicating them to him.

As a method of treatment for neuroses of childhood, psycho-analysis is
not only unsuccessful, it has dangers and produces ill effects which
far outweigh any advantage which may be gained from it.

There can be no doubt that Freud has exaggerated the part which sexual
impulses play in causing neurosis. It will be sufficient for us to
recognise that for the nervous child the sexual life has especial
dangers, and we should redouble our efforts to prevent his ideas on
the subject becoming "polarised." For the child whose environment has
been well regulated and who has developed strength of character,
self-control, and self-respect, there need be no fear.

CHAPTER XIV

THE NERVOUS CHILD AND SCHOOL

At the onset of puberty childhood comes to an end, and the period of
adolescence begins. Into these further stages of development it is not
proposed to enter, but it may be well to consider a question which is
apt to present itself for answer at this period: "Should the boy, or
girl, of nervous temperament, or whose development up to this point
has been accompanied by symptoms of nervous disorder, be sent to a
boarding-school?" So long as the child remains at home the home
environment is the force which alone is concerned in moulding his
character. We have seen how plastic the young child is, how imitative,
how suggestible, how prone to form habits good or bad. The diversity
of type shown by the homes is reflected in the di