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Degradation of personality is a subject of interest not only to the alienist but also to the psychotherapeutist. It is of interest to the latter as well as to the former to trace the development of mental deterioration and to disclose the restorative part played by medical treatment. However, while degradation of personality resulting from mental diseases has long since been described and expounded as a definite complex of phenomena, degradation developing as a result of neuroses appears to be something comparatively new, something the existence of which has been proven only in part as yet and the very treatment of which appears to be paradoxical. Still, degradation of personality in the case of neurotics is an indubitable fact. In order to make this clear it will be necessary to get an insight into the nature of neuroses as it is brought to light by analytical psychotherapy.
It is an established fact that neurotics are found not only among people of average intelligence but also among people of genius. This statement may at first appear contradictory to the very treatment of the subject matter of this paper—namely, to the treatment of the deteriorating effect of neuroses upon the mentality of the neurotic. To be sure, how could genius get on alongside mental deterioration? Are'nt these two phenomena incompatible? Isn't there any discrepancy in a statement like this?
There is no incompatibility here since degradation begins by affecting the behavior of the neurotic but not his intellect. Genius being a one-sided trait of personality may well coexist with a morbid behavior, though suffering somehow from its detrimental influence.