This preliminary report concerning the neuropsychiatric casualties encountered during the Tunisian Campaign was prepared by the authors under the stress and pressure of conditions in the theater of operations. It is reproduced with a minimum of editing in order to make the information available promptly to medical officers in all theaters. It is believed that this document will become a milestone in psychiatric literature, not only because of its practical value in relation to the prevention and treatment of war neuroses, but also because of the richness of the case history material presented. The detailed accounts of rehabilitation of the personality under the authors' psychotherapeutic method, "narcosynthesis", are unique and of great interest from the practical and theoretical viewpoints. -- Foreword.
This is a history of military psychiatry in the twentieth century. Both absorbing historical narrative and intellectual detective story, it weaves literary, medical, and military lore to give us a fascinating history of war neuroses and their treatment, from the World Wars through Vietnam and up to the Gulf War.
This preliminary report concerning the neuropsychiatric casualties encountered during the Tunisian Campaign was prepared by the authors under the stress and pressure of conditions in the theater of operations. It is reproduced with a minimum of editing in order to make the information available promptly to medical officers in all theaters. It is believed that this document will become a milestone in psychiatric literature, not only because of its practical value in relation to the prevention and treatment of war neuroses, but also because of the richness of the case history material presented. The detailed accounts of rehabilitation of the personality under the authors' psychotherapeutic method, "narcosynthesis", are unique and of great interest from the practical and theoretical viewpoints. -- Foreword.
The stress of war tries men as no other test that they have encountered in civilized life. Like a crucial experiment it exposes the underlying physiological and psychological mechanisms of the human being. Exceedingly valuable lessons can be learned from it regarding the methods by which men adapt themselves to all forms of stress, either in war or in peace. Under sufficient stress any individual may show failure of adaptation, evidenced by neurotic symptoms. Such symptoms then are pathological only in a comparative sense, when contrasted with the symptoms of those still making successful adaptations. While the material in this book concerns flying personnel almost exclusively, the psychological mechanisms under discussion in this book are those that apply to Everyman in his struggle to master his own environment. In this realm, a hair divides the normal from the neurotic, the adaptive from the non-adaptive. The failures of adaptation of the soldier described herein mirror Everyman’s everyday failures or neurotic compromises with reality. The book’s material is roughly divided into a discussion of war neuroses appearing overseas and those in combat veterans returned home for relief from flying or for rehabilitation. “Men under Stress” covers a vast array of topics, beginning with the background and selection of flight personnel, followed by seventeen chapters on the combat environment and reactions to it—which include the subjects of morale, combat stress, psychodynamics, emotional disorders and neurotic reactions, guilt and depression, aggression and hostility, psychosomatic states; psychotic-like states, and the treatment modalities of psychotherapy, narcosynthesis, and adjunctive treatment. The book closes with two chapters on civilian applications, including civilian psychiatry and general social implications.
After years at the margins of medical history, the relationship between war and medicine is at last beginning to move centre-stage. The essays in this volume focus on one important aspect of that relationship: the practice and development of medicine within the armed forces from the late nineteenth century through to the end of the Second World War. During this crucial period, medicine came to occupy an important position in military life, especially during the two world wars when manpower was at a premium. Good medical provisions were vital to the conservation of manpower, protecting servicemen from disease and returning the sick and wounded to duty in the shortest possible time. A detailed knowledge of the serviceman's mind and body enabled the authorities to calculate and standardise rations, training and disciplinary procedures. Spanning the laboratory and the battlefield, and covering a range of national contexts, the essays in this volume provide valuable insights into different national styles and priorities. They also examine the relationship between medical personnel and the armed forces as a whole, by looking at such matters as the prevention of disease, the treatment of psychiatric casualties and the development of medical science. The volume as a whole demonstrates that medicine became an increasingly important part of military life in the era of modern warfare, and suggests new avenues and approaches for future study.
In Memory Distortion, contributions from a multidisciplinary team of eminent scholars form the basis of an exploration of a range of phenomena including: hypnosis, confabulation, source amnesia, flashbulb memories and repression.
