" There is something in it, because the sick mind must be
persuaded if possible not to grave its dolorous course too
indelibly in the temperament; but no one else could see the acute
and intolerable reaction which used to follow such a strain, or
how, the excitement over, the suffering resumed its sway over the
exhausted self with an insupportable agony. I am sure that in my
long affliction I never suffered more than after occasions when I
was betrayed by excitement into argument or lively talk, and the
worst spasms of melancholy that I ever endured were the direct and
immediate results of such efforts.
The counteracting force in fact must be an emotional and
instinctive one, not a rational and deliberate one; and this must
be our next endeavour, to see in what direction the counterpoise
must lie.
In depression then, and when causeless fears assail us, we must try
to put the mind in easier postures, to avoid excess and strain, to
live more in company, to do something different. Human beings are
happiest in monotony and settled ways of life; but these also
develop their own poisons, like sameness of diet, however wholesome
it may be.
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