Get well soon

From 1919 until his death in 1950 Nijinsky was either in mental institutions, in hospitals or an invalid. Nijinsky wrote in 1919:

I want to weep but I cannot because my soul hurts so much that I fear for myself. I feel pain. I am sick in my soul but not in my brain. The doctor does not understand my sickness. I know what I need in order to be well. My sickness is too great for me to be cured soon. I am not incurable. I am sick in my soul. I am poor. I am a beggar. I'm unhappy. I'm hideous.

Doctors have the annoying every-recharging faith of Christians. Regardless of the catastrophic failure of Christian feeling or reason to stop evil or insanity they fountain of hope springs eternal. Our biographer of the penis says:

I can think we can do more to help someone like Nijinsky today than was possible when he became so disturbed.... Much better medication can now be prescribed for the control of disabling anxiety, fear and depression. Cylic mood disorders can be regulated. Confusion, rage, mania, hallucinations, and disabling mental states can be managed more effectively. Interpersonal techniques, psychotherapy, and marriage counselling have become more sophisticated. "Catatonia" has almost disappeared, and the incidence of "schizophrenia" is declining. Genetic, environmental, and social sources of mental disturbance are now better understood. Special programmes for the rehabilitation of dancers and other performing artists are available in many major cities. Long-term hospitalisation of psychiatric patients is almost unheard of nowadays. (p.342)