BRITISH MEDICAL JOUmRNA 14 APRm 1973 ill

Personal View

If I was allowed to give this Personal View a title I should all-they now make every effort to go out among people. call it "The No Touching Epidemic-An English Disease." Every nurse should comb more heads and rub more bottoms, Its symptoms include a feeling of and abstraction more vigorously then ever before. For the more timid, from one's fellows. Morbid doubts of other people's loyalty, touching can be done with the sound of the voice and the and feelings of insecurity. A fear of unpopularity; an inhibi- look on one's face. Britons must stop isolating themselves tion of feelings. Unusual reaction to others when one is in- from each other by feeling that other people don't want to advertently touched. Guilt feelings on touching another communicate with them. They should go and say "Hullo- person. Frigidity. Loss of tenderness and ability to comfort my name is Smith. Do you come here often?" Now the people in distress. A hesitancy and doubt when comforting doctor is becoming infected. Group practice appoint- people in . Fear of the dead bodies of blood relatives. ment systems; always having the receptionist answer the Inability to comfort. A strange, inhibited and cold attitude phone; not daring to go to the phone in case he becomes to strangers and foreigners. Solitary toilet habits; a tendency involved. The use of ex-directory numbers at home. Living to keep babies in their prams and young children glued to as far away from the practice as possible, lock-up premises their desks. Antagonisms to physical forms of discipline. are all signs of the disease gaining momenturm White coats, Dislike of the involvement of relatives in boxing or wrestling medical records, bottles of pills, a nurse to do the dressings, sports. Horror at the sight of courting couples. An inability ear syringings, immunizations, and injections. We are dealing to communicate with people standing nearby in public places with an epidemic and the normal uninfected people are be- and churches. A tendency for nurses to spend more and coming the abnormal. Don't we realize that when a patient more time talking to each other in the side ward rather than comes to a surgery, he is frightened that the doctor will tending patients. An antagonism to massage as a form of reject him; frightened that the doctor hasn't the time to see therapy. and introversion. A tendency to divorce. him; frightened that the doctor may not understand his An incomprehension of peoples' needs. Masturbation. Loss problem. Don't we realize that our secretary's or reception- of interest in a tango; an exaggerated interest in no touch ist's voice and manner can deeply hurt and offend because techniques in dancing. A preference for television rather than every patient believes that his G.P. has told his receptionist to conversation. keep them in person, away from the doctors? * * * * * * The Signs are frequent surgery attendances and a desire to How do the older G.P.s, the real artisans, treat this disease? be examined by the Doctor. An unhappy and discontented They take a patient's pulse; they pull his eyelids down to see look. Lack of interest in one's appearance. A bad tempered if he is anaemic. They shine a torch into his mouth. They angry attitude under stress. Obvious irritability. place a stethoscope down the dress or past the shirt buttons. How did it all develop? Continental people readily touch They hold a patient's hand and say "Now tell me what's each other. Monkeys spend hours a day touching each other wrong with you, dear." They open the door for the patients -human observers, of course, think they are removing fleas to go out. They shake hands and pat hands when the patient from each other's bodies. in this country used to enters the surgery. They place a hand on the knee that hurts consider it quite normal for the whole family to sleep in one and the belly that spasms. They pump the hand of a newly bed. Village feasts involved community dancing with lots fledged father, and accept his cigar and drink his whisky. of touching. Old-fashioned dancing even, and the Georgian They sit in an old lady's arn chair and drink her tea. They quadrilles involved touch. Soldiers and sailors slept together use their ears to touch their conversation and thoughts, and a in close proximity. soft understanding voice to massage away their fears. They Is our fear of sex the reason? Some people touch only let each person know by tone of voice or action that they during the sex act. Is Christianity to blame? Christ cured are welcome-that he knows they have problems or illnesses people by laying His hand on them. Is the Church at fault? or they would not be in the surgery. High pulpits and private pews? Does the type of house we live in rub salt into the wounds of this illness. Do our * * * teachers spread this flame like a wild fire? Perhaps the My father made his living by touching people. He was one example of our kings and queens are the bogies. Politicians of those old-fashioned healers-a masseur. One rainy day, on tend to bring people together so I tend to discard their role. the way to a Rugby match I was knocked from my scooter Could it be the fault of our parents and their parents? Yet and injured my knee. The next day, my father, aged 80 at mothers are constantly touching their babies-at least until the time, asked if he could have a look at my knee. He then the child starts having a will of its own. Perhaps the children proceeded to massage my toes, my foot, my ankle, and my antagonize their parents by a premature display of self-will. leg, expressing the oedema back to my heart. I no longer Humans stroke cats, pat dogs, snuggle up to horses without had any doubt why he had made a great success of his career apprehension-yet they refuse this grace to human in what is now known as physiotherapy. He believed that beings. his own strength flowed in a kind of magnetism to his patients. * * * When this man was dying, on the last occasion I saw him alive, he was then 89. I held his hand before I left his bed- Every Briton should learn to touch the people he loves and side, and again I felt the comfort of those wonderful hands. knows every day. We should shake hands moze easily, How many of you reading this article can honestly say they embrace and welcome each other more readily. Little child- have used their hands in treating or comforting patients? ren should sit on older people's knees. Teachers and parents should smack their children with their hands instead of P. N. K. HEYLINGS sending them to bed or standing them in a comer. Our General Practioner present Queen and her husband have set the standard for us YorJuhire