Salt Lake Telegram | 1941-02-24 | Page 8 | Brain Power

Brain PowerS Power S B Many Mental Diseases Now Curable By Modern Methods For nearly 30 years now Dr Horatio M. M Poll Pollock ek has been wrestling with facts about mental mental mental men men- tal disorders in inthe inthe the department of mental hygiene hygiene hy hy- giene glene of New NewYork NewYork 5 York state His voluminous n a 0 ous us records a about b o 0 u t more than a quarter f million mental patients have enabled him to discover trends in types and end se severity severity severity se- se verity of mental mental mental men men- tal d disease i sea s e which have been Lal Lai Laird r d dous dous ous landmarks landmarks' to guide research h and treatment Dr Pollock discovered that some types of mental menta which were considered ho hoj hopeless ts 30 years ago have now flow become curable First of these w was general gen gea eral paralysis of the Insane Insane- paresis or syphilitic softening o of 01 the brain Before a cure vu found the paretic's mental condi condl tion Invariably became steadily worse and he seldom lived rn mo mor than five five- years after the me mental ment t J symptoms appeared a aAs 3 1 As long as 15 years ago Dr Pollock sn saw a great decline t In the mortality f from m paresis it t was no longer loger a a fatal a al disease disease In addition a h large proportion o Of those afflicted with it are iu TUX t being restored mentally so the they can con return to their families lad and nd work S More recently he discovered that mental disorder disorder- one that occurs the most f fr is is is also on the verge f being conquered This is d fa S mentia or chizo nia I j This disorder used to be i re responsible for about one-fourth one of the new oases cases ses of insanity and fo for more than one hall of the p pa patients in mental hospitals It lt ft only in the last half dozen years yean that Dr Pollocks Pollock's records ha have revealed a substantial number numbe of ol recoveries from this once in b incurable curable affliction Recently he has found that thit some forms of mental disease appear to be on the increase buthe but buthe buthe he does not look upon thu at u serious or as indicating that the country is gradually going crazy The increases he finds are chiefly chief ly y In mental diseases due to old age and these are due to the In Increased In increased creased number of older persons In the population Dr Pollock has found no grounds for the popular theory that women In general tend t to develop mental disorders more mor readily than men In fact the rates are st somewhat higher amon among men He also finds that some time or other during his life one person out of every 20 is taken to a special special ape ape- cial hospital for lor treatment of ci a I mental breakdown EncouragIngly Encouragingly 50 out of every of those taken to a mental hospital man maa manage manage age to improve enough to return to their families is as Im improved 4 c cured Thirty years ag ago not ago not ot nearly as many returned home bond Dr Pollock started life HIe as farm boy and he Is still a farm er finding time to manage I a fruit farm near Middleburg j J Pollock Park near named alter after him 1 m