THE STRAIN OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17294, 18 October 1919, Page 13

THE STRAIN OF WAR.

SOLDIER MENTAL CASES. DEPARTMENT'S EXPERIENCE. A SATISFACTORY POSITION. [BY TELICGRAPH.— SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Friday. 1 Some interesting remarks are made by Dr. Hay. in a supplementary report on , the Mental Hospitals of the Dominion, regarding the work of the Department, j ' with respect to soldier patients. 1 ' " We had no reason," he says, " to be- j lieve that a disproportionate number of ! ( men of average mental stability would, as a result of the stress of military ser- ' vice, become mentally deranged. The i anticipation happily proved correct. Past experience has demonstrated that a man '' ' of sound mind, fighting honestly for a i ' j good cause, will face dangers and "undergo ! '■ ■ great privations, without losing his mental i j balance. lie may pass through ternbie ; , ' anxieties, but the are seldom lor himself : and he is maintained by a normally re- ! ' acting mental and moral exaltation, which ' ' sweeps away petty vanities and vexations, '< widens his horizon to include his comrades, ! ' and directs his thought* and energies for i : the general good. ' \ j "It is d.derent with those predisposed j , Ito mental disorder. Even with the best! < . ot intentions on their part one. expected I ; especially where this pre-disposition was ' , i marked, thai the adjustment to unexpected '• ! changes of environment, possibly short of! ! service at the front, would prove a dis- i ; turbing factor with instability of lesser degree. Many may come through all right, j but they are playing with gunpowder! j i- iirthermore, there are often feebleminded persons, who pass muster to begin j ] with, but who would be rejected subse ! qiiently either at the camp, ox actually at ,; the front, when their limitations become j revealed under a more complex order of I things than that to which they had become accustomed in civilian life. i ''This group we expected would come j under our care, be refitted for and placed ,in their old surroundings. We also regarded it as inevitable that -patients | falsely confident of their mental and i emotional stability would, suppressing their past history, enlist, and that a pro-' I portion would be returned to our care. I " One recognised the soldier as the selected of the community, between cer--1 tain age limits, and though under peaoe j conditions, some who looked physically ; strong, would have proved mentally inI nrm and come to us as patients in the | ordinary course, yet from an equal number jof soldiers passing through war conditions. (and of civilians of the same age. rejected as soldiers, we estimated a much larger I proportion of mental patients from the I civilians. Undoubtedly the estimate has j proved correct." i Dr. Hay refers to the wo'rk done in i different institutions, and gives some I , statistics. Fifty-six individuals were re- ! oeived under magistrate's order from! camps, and 112 as returned soldiers Of ! the former 20, and of the latter 50 were ] discharged recovered, a total of 59 re ' (covered out of 168 admitted. There were i ; 11 deaths. ;