Emmanuel Movement - Years of Growth

Years of Growth

Ladies Home Journal published a series of articles written by Elwood Worcester in 1908-9 introducing his ideas to a national audience. The first book about the movement, Religion and Medicine, The Moral Control of Nervous Disorders by Worcester, McComb and Isador Coriat, appeared in 1908. The book went through nine printings in its first year of publication as the popularity of the movement grew.

Four components made up the primary approach to therapy. The church continued to offer large lectures and classes, primarily devoted to what would now be termed "functional" illness (Worcester and McComb did not claim that they could cure organic disease). There was a clinic, held under the auspices of the church and staffed by physicians, which offered some traditional medical care. The third component, unique at the time, offered the services of "lay therapists" who were trained on the job by Worcester, McComb and others. Treatment consisted of a relatively brief form of analysis, support and direction for making changes in the patient's life, and the use of suggestion to relieve symptoms. Therapy was reinforced by volunteers who visited the patients at home.