Collapse

Finally the day may come when, yielding to some extra burden of fear, the sufferer gives up what he thinks is his last ounce of strength, and ‘collapses’, while the alarmed family stand round helplessly. The words heard murmured in the hall, ‘Doctor, he has collapsed,’ close a chapter for him and act as chains to bind him to the bed. If he could not find his way out of breakdown while on his two feet he wonders how he will find it now that he has collapsed. The fight seems too great, the journey too uphill, so he may spend weeks, even months, on his back, or be taken promptly to hospital for shock treatment.