ABSTRACT
Temporary exacerbations of nervous disorders in connection with Sundays, feast-days and holidays have often come to author attention. The remarks which follow on the aetiology of fluctuations are intended not to contradict Sandor Ferenczi's thesis, but to supplement it in one particular direction. The psychic equilibrium so strenuously maintained by constant work will be overthrown in the course of a Sunday or a holiday or a longer period of inactivity. Patients feel better again they resume work. The great majority of people use their Sundays to enjoy themselves, to go dancing, and generally to spend their time in the company of the opposite sex. Physical illness or accident, forcing inactivity on its victims, may often precipitate an outbreak or exacerbation of neurosis. One tends to link a neurosis aetiologically with the preceding infection or accident. It can be established, however, that the patient felt overwhelmed by his suppressed libido during his enforced idleness.
