I sometimes fancy that in my condition if I had less opposition and more society and stimulus—but John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition, and I confess it always makes me feel bad.
This kind of reminds me of hysteria? Female hysteria was something that was often used to diagnose women. Any emotional outburst was seen as a symptom, so if a woman was worried or emotional about anything, it was just another medical condition symptom to ignore, rather than something to actually take seriously.