Suicide Caused by Mental Germs (Feb, 1932)
Filed under: Impractical — @ 9:51 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1932
Buy on Ebay
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1932
Buy on Ebay
I’m terrified of a “mental contagion of ideas”.
Suicide Caused by Mental Germs
SUICIDE as an infectious disease, to be stopped or prevented like any other infectious epidemic, is seen by Dr. D. H. Geffen, British Medical Health Officer.
It is unquestionable that the large majority of suicides are caused by temporary mental distress, and it is this condition which Dr. GefTen declares to be an infection; not an infection by germs but a mental contagion of ideas. Suspected thoughts of suicide, indicating a mild case of the “infection, ” should be treated by preventing new infection and by building up the patient’s mental resistance. Carpenters and others who work much with their hands seldom commit suicide.
This is exactly why I wear a condom stretched over my head when I go to the library…
Comment by Stannous — April 2, 2007 @ 6:08 pm
PLOT, COINCIDENCE OR SYNCHRONICITY?
The very next page I went to after this was this:
Parasite hijacks brains with surgical precision
http://www.newscientist.com/ar.....ision.html
Comment by Stannous — April 2, 2007 @ 6:11 pm
Would ‘mental germ’ be another term for ‘meme?’
Comment by fluffy — April 2, 2007 @ 8:19 pm
Dr. D.H. Geffen, hm?
Didn’t Mojo Nixon ask for his head once?
Comment by Blurgle — April 24, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
He’s not too far off. Take, for example, the cultural effects of Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther.”
Comment by Daylightrambler — August 5, 2007 @ 6:07 am