ARMY NEUROSIS

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 May 1944, Page 6

ARMY NEUROSIS

INTERESTING ANALYSIS LONDON, January 31. An interesting analysis of 2,500 cases of war neurosis from the Eighth Army has been published in the “Lancet” by Major Alfred Torrie, of the Royal Army Medical Corps. The irregular arrival of letters from home is one of the main causes of neurosis among soldiers serving overseas, he says. The cases analysed developed during the desert retreat to El Alamein and in the later drive across North Africa. A large proportion of the cases was made up of men who had served more than four years and regular soldiers who had been absent from their homes for a long time. Of patients treated 89.9 per cent, returned to their duties and only 5.4 per cent, were invalided out. A high proportion of psychiatric casualties was found in units with little corporate life, such as small teams of drivers on lines of communication exposed to frequent divebombing. Neurosis was sometimes brought on by the transfer of a soldier- from a unit where the leadership was good to another where the men lacked confidence in their officers. Because the need for social security was dominant in some men’s minds, the publication of the Beveridge report was timely. Major Torrie suggests that the capacity of a soldier to stand up to battle _ conditions can be assessed early in his training. One in four cases treated should never have been sent overseas. “The type who should be watched is the over-confident boaster who volunteers for all sorts of jobs—he often proves an empty barrel,” he adds.