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The Nervous Housewife By: Abraham Myerson (1881-1948) |
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BY ABRAHAM MYERSON, M.D.
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1920
Published November, 1920
Norwood Press Set up and electrotyped by J.S. Cushing Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE
I INTRODUCTORY 1
II THE NATURE OF "NERVOUSNESS" 17
III TYPES OF HOUSEWIFE PREDISPOSED TO NERVOUSNESS 46
IV THE HOUSEWORK AND THE HOME AS FACTORS IN THE NEUROSIS 74
V REACTION TO THE DISAGREEABLE 91
VI POVERTY AND ITS PSYCHICAL RESULTS 116
VII THE HOUSEWIFE AND HER HUSBAND 126
VIII THE HOUSEWIFE AND HER HOUSEHOLD CONFLICTS 141
IX THE SYMPTOMS AS WEAPONS AGAINST THE HUSBAND 160
X HISTORIES OF SOME SEVERE CASES 168
XI OTHER TYPICAL CASES 199
XII TREATMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL CASES 231
XIII THE FUTURE OF WOMAN, THE HOME, AND MARRIAGE 244
INDEX 269
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY
How old is the problem of the Nervous Housewife? Did the semi mythical Cave Man (who is perhaps only a pseudo scientific
creation) on his return from a prehistoric hunt find his leafy spouse
all in tears over her staglocythic house cleaning, or the conduct of the
youngest cave child? Did she complain of her back, did she have a
headache every time they disagreed, did she fuss and fret until he lost
his patience and dashed madly out to the Cave Man's Refuge? We cannot tell; we only know that all humor aside, and without reference
to the past, the Nervous Housewife is surely a phenomenon of the
present day American home. In greater or less degree she is in every
man's home; nor is she alone the rich Housewife with too little to do,
for though riches do not protect, poverty predisposes, and the poor
Housewife is far more frequently the victim of this disease of
occupation. Every practicing physician, every hospital clinic, finds her
a problem, evoking pity, concern, exasperation, and despair. She goes
from specialist to specialist, orthopedic surgeon, gynecologist, X ray
man, neurologist. By the time she has completed a course of treatment
she has tasted all the drugs in the pharmacopeia, wears plates on her
feet, spectacles on her nose, has had her teeth tinkered with, and her
insides straightened; has had a course in hydrotherapeutics,
electrotherapeutics, osteopathy, and Christian Science! Such is an extreme case; the minor cases pass through life burdened with
pains and aches of the body and soul. And one of the commonest and
saddest of transformations is the change of the gay, laughing young
girl, radiant with love and all aglow at the thought of union with her
man, into the housewife of a decade, complaining, fatigued, and
disillusioned. Bound to her husband by the ties the years and the
children have brought, there is a wall of misunderstanding between them. "Men don't understand," cries she. "Women are unreasonable," says he. What are the causes of the change? Did the housewife of a past
generation go through the same stage? Ask any man you meet and he will
tell you his mother is or was more enduring than his wife. "She bore
three times as many children; she did all her own housework; she baked
more, cooked more, sewed more; she got up at five o'clock in the morning
and went to bed at ten at night; she never went out, never had a
vacation, did not know the meaning of manicure, pedicure, coiffure. She
was contented, never extravagant, and rarely sick." So the average man will say, and then: "Those were the good old days of
simple living, gone like the dodo!" To day, well, it reminds me of a
joke I heard. One man meets another and says: 'By the way, I heard that
your wife was the champion athlete at college... Continue reading book >>
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