CIVILAN POPULATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 20 June 1939, Page 10

CIVILAN POPULATION

REACTION TO WAR. In the following article Dr Maurice Wright', 0.8. E., M.D., gives his views on the possible effect of war on the civilian population. The doctor, in the course of a lecture to the lavistock Clinic, England, said that in his opinion and from his own experience, women would stand the stress of danger as well, if not better, than men. “I can quite conceive that there will be panic and hysteria. But both panic and hysteria seen in groups or crowds are short-lived reactions, as we saw in the last war. Under ferritic bombardment. whole battalions succumbed to panic and ran back, but in almost every case they were rallied behind the lines and went forward again steadily into the fighting line free from panic. 1 believe this will hold good with the civilian population. There will be many who will panic, many who will have hysteria, but the majority of them will recover and curry on, ... “There is another reaction of the civil population to war that may Ue very terrible—not anxiety, not panic, but the: exhaustion of the faculty to feel anxiety. This is . apathy, the stunned apathy.which one has read of in populations, particularly when there has been malnutrition, where

the stress of bombardment, carnage, and destruction have been very great. This is not a type of panic, but something worse, a deadening' of all eraolional response, of grief, fear, or joy. 1 hope we may never see it. because descriptions of its occurrence in large sections of a community are very terrible.

“What can be done to help the population to keep their morale under stress of war? What, at any rate, are the ideals to be aimed at? Evidence, clear evidence, must, be given to the mass of the civil population that there is preparedness, that there is organisation; and. every man and woman, especially in urban areas, must have a job to do and know where and howto do it.

, I ‘‘After the Napoleonic- wars the . people of England were at a very low b ebb through want, unemployment, and ’’ hardship of ail kinds. In order to try ’■ to lull some of the discontented, the ■' Government ordered the building of “ more churches, believing or hoping, 1 ;• suppose, that if the people were, cn--1 couragcd to have faith in a future • happiness they might be more tolerant ‘ of their present, sufferings. 1 “1 am not urging this as a Govern- • merit measure in time of war. 1 do, ■ however, seriously wonder whether, I if we have to experience the horrors ‘I of war on the. civil population, the re-

’ turn of some religious belief may not - prove to be for many people one of 1 the best defences against anxiety. It has happened before in the history of the world, and may happen again. "During war there is objective cause for fear, there is the risk of loss ot life, of property, and of the lives of I ethers: but: as war goes on real anxiety becomes transformed into neurotic anxiety, anxiety which persists in both mental and bodily disturbance long after the objective cause for anxiety has been moved.! There was plenty of evidence of this during the last war. Battalions remained more stable if iJiey could be given frequent, hut not too long., periods of rest, from the front lines. ANXIETY AXD FEAR. "Of course, everyone in Hie civilian population is not equally anxious. There are. undoubtedly, some types which are much more tolerant of stress and mon l phlegmatic, and less imaginative. 1 am not speaking here of bravery or cowardice, which does

not depend on whether anxiety is or is not experienced. “In my own opinion, based upon four years’ work with shell-shock patients, not one of us', however phlegmatic, is immune from anxiety. It is just a question of dose. If stress is sufficiently prolonged the most phelgmatic may break down, and when they do the condition is often mpre severe and lasting than when some tolerance of anxiety has been previously acquired. “If the immediate effects of anxiety are severe, the remote effects on the civilian population will be equally severe. We are only beginning to realise the effect of neurotic anxiety on every function of the body; the

effect of real anxiety will be just as

serious. As the result of endocrine and sympathetic disturbances, no system is immune—cariovascular, digestive. or respiratory. “When the destruction of life and

property is particularly cruel, insen-

sate, and spares no one., there is one other reaction of the civilian population—blind, unreasoning anger. Even in normal life, anger releases for the time being the tension of normal anxiety. Under war conditions it may be directed against the authority of the government, or more probably against all or any who may, however unjustly, be suspected of sympathies or any racial affinity with the enemy. This anger may prove .a very terrible thing in any population, especially when it is not .the result of personal anxiety' 1 , but of ocular evidence of carnage and destruction. I am afraid it leads to the blind demand of ‘an eye ’ for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ “Will women stand war conditions as well as men? My own opinion and my own experience is that, they will stand the stress of danger as well, if net better, than men, but that we must give them an outlet for their material protective instinct. To many women their menfolk are their children, and they will stand the stress better if they are not separated from them. Evacuation may be, probably must be, necessary, but I should' not like to have the handling of a big" camp of women whose menfolk, 50 miles away, were under daily bombardment. “Secondly, what is the effect of war anxiety on children? Curiously enough, there is good evidence that they are more unset, at least at first, by the separation from, or by the emotional disturbance of. their parents and family, than they arc by the actual war situations. It is still more important that children, if evacuated, should remain in groups familiar to i them—such as school classes—and! under familiar authority. In such circumstances experience shows that children may show few signs of ' anxiety. ... 4

“However great the maiming and loss of life, in the end it will be less disasti ou.s than the result of anxiety, it this is severe and’ prolonged. Not only will there bo countless damaged Jives, individuals cut off from lull happiness and enjoyment, but there will be a heritage which can, I believe, affect generations to come.”