Evening star., 1940-06-06
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field. Laboratory
And Study
BY Thomas r. Henri.

Despite the shattering impact of the
war in Europe on the mind Of the world
no great increase in mental disease need
be expected in the United States, be-
lieves DR.. Winfred Overholser, superin-
tendent Of st. Elizabeth's Hospital the
great Federal institution for mental
diseases.
What surprises me is that the human
mind is so tough" DR.. Overholser says.
The last war did bring about a notice.
able but not very striking increase of
admissions to psychiatric hospitals, he
points out, but it was only in certain
categories of mental disease-dementia
precox, epilepsy, general paresis, senile
psychosis, and mental diseases due to
alcohol. For most other forms there
was actually a, decrease, the statistics
show.
Close to $4,000 World War veterans,
DR.. Overholser says, now are under
treatment in mental hospitals and the
number is increasing but the connection
OF the more recent cases with the actual
stresses Of war is at best very tenuous.
Many Of these men have functioned
fairly well until the present when they
have reached the age when the most
rapidly increasing of all mental diseases
takes It's toll. This is arteriosclerotic
mental disease which begins to appear
In the sixth decade Of life There is no
evidence that it is more frequent among
veterans than in the general population,
DR.. Overholser says, and the increasing
incidence is due in large part to the in
creasing age level of the population.
AS a practical concern, he stressed,
the demonstrated increase in these
maladies and the closely related senle
psychoses which begin to appear in the
sixties is more significant than the
possibility of some hitherto unobserved
reaction as result of war excitement
and confusion.
Shell shock, says Dr. Overholser, never
has been recognized as a disease entity
in the United States Army.
During the last war shell shock"
cases developed among soldiers in the
United States and in the service sup
plies as we'll as in combat divisions.
The term was applied to about every
thing that went wrong with soldiers
nerves or mind. Among 100000 men
certain number could have been ex-
pected to develop mental disorder any
way, even if they had never been in
uniform.
But the term was more specifically
applied, DR.. Overholser says, to cases
Of hysteria suddenly developed by SOL
diers. All of sudden a man would be
stricken dumb, or leg or an arm would
be paralyzed. Other men would lose
completely their memories. Some might
develop violent and uncomfortable
tremors
The symptoms themselves were not
new to mind specialists but, says DR..
Overholser, "our experience in the field
hospitals modified a conception which
hitherto had been generally accepted
in psychiatry. Since the days of the
Greeks hysteria had been considered a
disease essentially confined to women;
the very name indicates this We found,
however, that men were far from i'm
mune to neurosis.
Usually treatment was fairly success
full Only 20 per cent of she'll shock
cases were invalided back to the United
States. Another 20 per cent responded
so we'll that they could be sent back to
the lines Others were given less nerve
straining work behind the lines
One of the most curious observations
was that while many of the cases cleared
up with the Armistice, some actually
became worse. l think this can Le
understood If we consider the genesis
OF these neuroses as escape phenomena.
A man is put IN position where his
very existence is threatened. If he
stays where he is, he thinks, he is going
to be shot. If he runs away he knows he
is going to be shot. So he develops con-
dition that makes him worthless in serv-
ice. He has to be removed from the dan
ger zone Thus he saves his life and, so
far as the world is concerned, his honor
at the same time.
NoAA v AhSoAl w say, VI COulSe, lIldG
anybody did this consciously. For one
thing, it would be impossible to develop
such a realistic dumbness or paralysis
with conscious intent. Everything has
to take place unconsciously 1t might
happen to a person whose ideal was to
be perfect soldier. The Armistice
blasted the last hope of ever real
izing this ideal-of proving to himself
his own courage. This created another
unbearable situation from which escape
was sometimes found, still unconsciously,
in an aggravation of the neurosis."
The original conception of shell shock,
DR.. Overholser points out, came from
British neurologists who found evidence
of tiny hemorrhages in the brains of
men killed in battle who had been sub
jected to heavy cannonading. Further
studies. however, showed that this or
ganic condition was not demonstrably
related to the actual symptoms of neu-
rosis displayed by soldiers.
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