Introduction: the psyche in pain

No severe or prolonged bodily illness followed this incident in the red-room; it only gave my nerves a shock; of which I feel the reverberation to this day...Next day, by noon I was up and dressed, and sat wrapped in a shawl by the nursery hearth. I felt physically weak and broken down; but my worst ailment was an unutterable wretchedness of mind: a wretchedness which kept drawing from me silent tears; no sooner had I wiped one salt drop from my cheek than another followed. Yet, I thought, I ought to have been happy, for none of the Reeds were there; they were all gone out in the carriage with their mama ... but, in fact, my racked nerves were now in such a state that no calm could soothe, and no pleasure excite them agreeably. (Emphasis added)