ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author presents numerous instances of highly intelligent persons, of great distinction, even among actors, who are exceedingly timid upon certain occasions. The author's patient returned in a few days “surprised at the depth of the impression made by those considerations “and by the success of the experiment he had made at his instigation when he deliberately sought occasions where bashfulness might be exhibited. He noticed that his timidity was greater in the evenings. The cause of this was the lessening of available energy, when tired, with which to overcome his resistance to performing social adjustment. More commonly one finds that dreads contingent upon life in school or college are the fruit of inadequate adjustment to social situations during childhood. Sometimes these originate in circumstances outside the home, but more usually maladaptations are the result of faulty treatment by members of the family, and more particularly by one or both parents.
