Handbook for attendants on the insane.

  • Royal Medico-psychological Association
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook for attendants on the insane. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    379/416 (page 359)
    body, and there appears to be more design in the move- ments. 3. The eyes are closed, the eyelids are tremulous, and the eyeball may be turned inwards or outwards. 4. The patient may scream or ejaculate words during the attack. 5. The tongue is not bitten. 6. There is no definite clonic stage, and the fit lasts longer than the epileptic seizure, and usually in the place of the coma, or sleep, the patient has wild outbursts of laughing or crying. The severe fits are not very common. The mental characteristics of the hysterical person are fairly definite. She is usually— 1. Constantly craving for the sympathy of others. 2. Always thinking of herself. 3. Jealous. 4. Fault-finding. 5. Exaggerating. 6. Very emotional. 7. Indolent, but at times over-active. There are many other bodily and mental symptoms, which are too technical for a nurse to understand. Management.—Never allow the patient to think either by what is said or done that she is looked upon as a malingerer. Too much sympathy is bad, and the patient requires to be firmly but kindly treated, receiving constant encouragement. Let it be borne in mind that any irritability that she may show is the result of illness. She requires a regular life and plenty of rest. The diet should be liberal and of a nourishing nature, eggs and milk being specially useful. Exercise should be taken in the strictest moderation. The nurse must give careful attention to the patient’s bowels, and also report if there is any retention of urine, as this is a symptom which may arise in some cases.