WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24503, 28 February 1945, Page 8

WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS

—♦' . ' “ STRAIN BEGINNING TO HAVE EFFECT * OPINION OF HOSPITAL SUPERINTENDENT (Rec. 9 p.m.) LONDON. Feb. 27. “One of every 200 Londoners is a patient in a mental hospital. One of every 274 is a mental defective,” said Professor K. Henderson, physician and superintendent of the Edinburgh Hospital for Mental and Nervous Disorders, in his annual report. He added: “This is not a reflection on the Londoner, but an indication of the prevalence of mental disorder and defects in any large city,” Professor Henderson said it was not easy to share the optimism of the Lunacy and Mental Deficiency Board of Control in England, which stated that the war had not brought increases in cases of mental breakdown but had demonstrated the nation’s stability. The board was not taking a realistic view of the position, because informed opinion was coming to appreciate that conditions were in a state of change. Women who had shouldered the. burden of their, households during the war and had tried also to do extra work were showing signs of being tired out. They were, in such circumstances, apt to become depressed and moody, “The strain of the war years was beginning to have a considerable effect on the population generally. Evidence seemed to point to a tendency of behaviour disorders -in children to increase, certainly In town areas,”