A self-help book from the 1970s. Among the problems it promised to cure:
How to use self-hypnosis to cure your slipped disc, backache, headache, low back pain, even the painful torticolis or "wry neck" that has defied medical science
How to conquer a condition we call "loneliness" but which our subconscious mind knows to be a genuine starvation of our love needs
Even if you've been smoking for twenty-five years you can give it up overnight—and actually enjoy the so-called "withdrawal" period
An entirely new and different way of controlling overweight—on a self-hypnotic diet that requires no dieting
Eighty percent of your stomach filled all day with indigestible mystery fiber, for only $480.00? Sign me up! Or just plunk me down in a barn full of hay!
I wonder what would have happened had Dr. Sherman's plan been put into action? It would certainly relieve stress -- and provide a much more realistic view of the world -- if we were all taught from day one to accept our mediocrity. Reported in the Newark Advocate, Dec. 1, 1936:
Training for Failure
It seems that parents are wrong in counseling their youngsters to study hard and aim for the presidency.
Anyway, Dr. Mandel Sherman, mental hygiene specialist at the University of Chicago, advises that young people be trained to become failures, in the ordinary sense of the word.
"Our educational system is suffering from an overdose of success stories," he contends. "One person in 10 is neurotic, one in 22 insane today because we train only for success. And only a few can be successful from a material standpoint."
Youth perhaps should be taught that a successful life need not include fame and riches. But history, studded with instances of handicapped youngsters who fought their way to success, indicates that it would be difficult to get the younger generation to bow its head to the inevitability of failure.
Category: Death, Self-help Schemes, Books, 1990's