SUNDRY CONDITIONS FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT OF ANXIETY: WRYNECK
Like writer’s cramp, spasmodic torticollis or wryneck is a condition which is widely considered to be uninfluenced by any form of treatment. In fact, the most recently advocated treatment involves a destructive operation on the brain.
A seventeen-year-old schoolboy had this condition in quite advanced form so that his head was held twisted to one side with his chin over his shoulder. When for a moment he was able to bring his head to the front, there would be a sudden spasm of the muscles, and his head would be jerked to the side again.
I believe that this strange symptom had an unconscious symbolic meaning for the patient; and in fact it seemed that this lad was turning away from his father and the principles for which he stood,
I taught him to relax the rest of his body and to experience this relaxation in his mind. In doing this we had to ignore the spasm of the muscles in his neck. Then when he had mastered the exercises he was gradually able to bring his neck muscles to relax for a few moments, then for longer periods; until after several weeks of practice the condition completely cleared.
An interesting point was that the muscles on one side of his neck had grown to an unusual thickness as a result of the spasm. Some weeks after the spasm was relieved these returned to normal size.
His mother wrote, “I wish to take this opportunity of thanking you for the treatment you gave . . . earlier in the year. Without your help, I am quite sure he would not have recovered as he has done, and we are all very grateful to you. So far as … himself is concerned, he seems to be completely recovered, and his approach to life and its problems has, generally speaking, become much calmer and more reasonable than it was for some time past.” At Christmas the boy sent a card, “It is wonderful to be able to do things normally again.”
The mother spoke of the treatment I gave him. But remember that I merely showed him how to do it himself, just in the same way that I have set down here.
I have been a little doubtful of the wisdom of including these two cases—the writer’s cramp and the wryneck—because it is so easy for people to say to themselves, “It is impossible that such a simple approach could cure such difficult conditions.” Please do not be put off by the
simplicity of this approach. Remember that the regression is an essential factor,
I have just recently seen a man with a wryneck condition, and I think I could have helped him. But he rejected the idea: “How could this help me, when all the other treatment has done me no good.” The simplicity of the treatment is indeed its greatest difficulty.
Furthermore, please do not let the apparent diversity of all these conditions confuse
you—nail-biting, blushing, writer’s cramp, wryneck and even smoking. There is no diversity. They are all motivated by the one factor, anxiety. Our exercises reduce our anxiety and so allow the symptoms to subside.
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