ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the impact of Hugh Verrall’s death on the members of the family. At first, Anna Verrall was business-like and sold the big house. However, after looking after Diana for a week while Joan took flight, Anna began to feel unwell and was diagnosed with neurasthenia. The chapter examines some of the history of this diagnosis. After a period of mania, Joan collapsed into depression. She gave up her business, which looked as if it was developing. Joan’s search for treatment for herself led her to an interest in psychological therapies. Vanessa Bell probably recommended Dr Maurice Wright to Joan, as he had treated her sister Virginia Woolf. Perhaps the biggest trauma in 1916 for Joan was the death of Margaret Verrall. She had been more than a mother to Joan, and this loss was probably the stimulus for Joan to begin a psychoanalysis.
