The Best Therapy

The Best Therapy

Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.

Matthew 5:42

Since 1925, people suffering from severe mental illness have turned to The Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. It was the first psychiatric treatment alternative to the nearly inhuman conditions of the asylums of the day. Today it is often ranked as the number one psychiatric hospital in the nation. And it’s all due to Dr. Karl Menninger.

Dr. Menninger specialized in neurology and psychiatry and is well known for his writing. His first of fourteen books, The Human Mind, attempted to educate the public in psychiatry. Writing the book was not an easy task for a busy doctor. Yet despite his hard work, the thirty-seven-year-old psychiatrist didn’t have much faith in the success of his project. He told a friend that it would not get noticed. He was very wrong.

The Human Mind was published in 1930 and immediately became a Literary Guild selection and sold two hundred thousand copies. It was one of the first books in which a psychiatrist explained the everyday workings that went on in his office, and showed the world as it is seen through the eyes of a psychiatrist.^a

In his later years, Dr. Karl Menninger gave a lecture on mental health and was answering questions from the audience. “What would you advise a person to do,” asked one man, “if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?”

Instead of giving the expected reply, “Consult a psychiatrist,” he shocked everyone by saying, “Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.”

His point? Serving others cultivates health and brings about peace and contentment. It’s what the colloquial proverb says:

If you want happiness for an hour—take a nap.

If you want happiness for a day—go fishing.

If you want happiness for a month—get married.

If you want happiness for a year—inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime—help others.

So if you want to experience the ultimate psychotherapy, there’s no need to pay a psychiatrist. Simply recognize the needs around you and meet them—starting in your own home by serving your spouse. Soon you’ll see that the best form of therapy is helping others.

Love cures people, the ones who receive love and the ones who can give it, too.

—Karl A. Menninger

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