RETURNING MEN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 79, 5 February 1944, Page 4

RETURNING MEN

MENTAL REHABILITATION NECESSITY TO PREPARE NOW The return of the repatriated prisoners from Germany offers the War Office and the Ministries of Labour and Pensions an opportunity for a large-scale experiment in social rehabilitation before they are called upon to meet the more massive problems which will follow the end of the war in Europe.—" The Lancet.” The training of the physically handicapped man, so that he can take his place In the industrial world, is familiar work to the Ministry ol Pensions, adds the “Lancet.” But the mental state of the repatriated prisoner is a more subtle matter. There will, of course, be the gross casualties—the man who return* to find his family has perished in the blitz or has disintegrated for other reasons; but such cases will be few. In the prison camp, every prisoner will have built up a mental picture of home, and this fantasy may bear little relation to the real thing. After highly emotional episodes, life for all of us is apt to seem dull and flat. For the repatriated prisoner, this anti-climax will coincide with a realisation that home is not without its drawbacks and irritations. It would not be unreasonable to predict the development of something in the nature of a reactive depression, which will call for careful handling. After a brief holiday, a return to kind ly but firm discipline might not come amiss, coupled with a steady increase in physical work. Interest in current affairs might be reawakened at the same time by lectures and discussion groups. Some may feel, however, that the man has a better chance of working out his own salvation in the cold hard world. We have a chance to try out both methods. If two groups of repatriated prisoners could be treated along these lines, with adequate psychiatric observation of both groups, they might well provide the necessary data for planning the mental rehabilitation of the other prisoners of war.