Thursday, February 24, 2011

madness & civilization

Regarding melancholics, François Leuret advised in Fragments psychologiques sur la folie (Paris, 1834),

"Do not employ consolations, they are useless; 
have no recourse to reasoning, it does not persuade; 
do not be sad with melancholics, your sadness sustains theirs; 
do not assume an air of gaiety with them, they are only hurt by it.  
What is required is great sang-froid, and when necessary, severity.  Let your reason be their rule of conduct. 

A single string still vibrates in them, that of pain; have courage enough to pluck it."




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