Fear Fans Out

I have an insatiable appetite for magazine articles that deal with our worries, mental disorders, tensions, and fears, especially when such articles are of the “Interview-with-an-Expert” type. I read all of these I can get my hands on, and evidently most Americans are just like me. In reading these of late, I have noticed that quite a few are now slanted toward the fears and tensions aroused by our current national emergencies. This tendency is natural, I guess. Since the country appears to be going rapidly to hell, people want to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

As a consequence, the campuses and mental clinics of the nation seem to have been ransacked in search of college professors, psychiatrists, and other assorted experts who can advise the public on such subjects as “Handling Your Watergate Neurosis,” or “Getting a Grip on Your Psyche during the Energy Crisis.” Even the specialty magazines have finally sensed the relevancy of this sort of psychological orientation. Bush and Brake ran a piece recently entitled “Self-Analysis and Backpacking in the Canadian Rockies,” while Machine and Motor Monthly followed promptly with “Be Your Own Body Repair Man While Undergoing Shock Therapy.”

SV

About the Author

S. L. Varnado

Featured Tags

I have an insatiable appetite for magazine articles that deal with our worries, mental disorders, tensions, and fears, especially when such articles are of the “Interview-with-an-Expert” type. I read all of these I can get my hands on, and evidently most Americans are just like me. In reading these of late, I have noticed that quite a few are now slanted toward the fears and tensions aroused by our current national emergencies. This tendency is natural, I guess. Since the country appears to be going rapidly to hell, people want to make the journey as comfortable as possible.

As a consequence, the campuses and mental clinics of the nation seem to have been ransacked in search of college professors, psychiatrists, and other assorted experts who can advise the public on such subjects as “Handling Your Watergate Neurosis,” or “Getting a Grip on Your Psyche during the Energy Crisis.” Even the specialty magazines have finally sensed the relevancy of this sort of psychological orientation. Bush and Brake ran a piece recently entitled “Self-Analysis and Backpacking in the Canadian Rockies,” while Machine and Motor Monthly followed promptly with “Be Your Own Body Repair Man While Undergoing Shock Therapy.”