Evening star., 1944-05-05

from the original ldno1ngS on August
z, 1912, until the belated relief just
before Christmas. He became vio-
lently insane later, breaking every
thing in reach.
He told psychiatrists that a sense
of guilt and failure began to bother
him on the island. They decided
some personality disturbance had
been present before he got into the
Ifighting and prescribed electric
shock. He is all right now.
THE prevalent idea that men OF
sound mind are sometimes perma-
nently deranged mentally by the
strain of aerial or atillery lombard
ment is all wrong" DR.. Winfred
Overholser, superintendent OF st.
Elizabeth's told me. "The mental
cases that are coming to our hospi-
tai from the services are not combat
cases-except In rare instances. The
man with q mental weakness that
makes him candidate for schizo-
phrenia seldom gets to the front.
The difficulties of adjusting himself
to military life and the rigors OF
training are likely to reveal the
weakness or cause q breakdown long
before he gets to combat area.
Many Shell Shock Cases.
"There are, OF course, q great
many cases Of what used to be
termed shell shock. Sometimes this
is q neurosis, sometimes just fatigue.
Both are usually cleared up by rest
at hospitals behind the lines. The
rest is speeded up today By the use
of the drug, sodium amytal. The
doctors sometimes keep the patients
asleep for i've days, allowing them
to wake up only long enough to eat
They also often use the drug, with
excellent results, to render the pa
lient more accessible to psyche
therapy-to being talked to and
helped over what is troubling him."
/ At the Veterans Administration
Hospital at Perry Point, Md, I
talked to q man whose recovery had
amazed the sta1.
Archer (and that is not his real
name) was a 30-year-old soldier
who had cracked up in training at
q North Carolina camp.
When he arrived at Perry Point
he was a human pillar - nothing
more. They would get him up in
the morning and there he would
stand. They had to ''tube-feed" him
through the nose.
His wife followed him to Perry
Point; got q job across the river at
Aberdeen and used to come to see
him three times q week. She
couldn't get through to him. The
human pillar didn't know her.
When I saw him he was grinning
sheepishly at being kidded about
taking second helpings at the lunch
con table-the man who was force
fed three weeks before. The drone|
OF . propeller was heard outside
and Archer went eagerly to the
window to. look for the airplane.
Back Now With Wife.
He is back with his wife now.
DR.. John e. Davis at Perry Point
summed it up for me.
DR.. Davis has nothing to do with
electric shock therapy. For II years
with his recreational therapy he
has been enabling some of the pa
tients to go home. With o patience
surprising Jobs he has been in
teresting men-whose mental fall
ure Is lack Of interest in anything
IN hobbies or games, especially golf
on the hospitals rolling course that
skirts Chesapeake Bay, . gift OF
Pierre du Pont.
Since electric shock therapy start
ed there in December he has lost
two Of his golfers-the most difncult
one and the best one-they have
gone home cured.
The first golfer, q newspaperman,
was difficult because even when led
right up to the ball, he couldn't find
1t. He would start wandering away
from 1t. But when DIR. Davis would
finally succeed In getting him to
keep his eyes on the ball he would
hit 1t all right-like any country
club dub.
Both Now Recovered.
The other golfer, regular Army
o1hcer, played good game, but he
would always talk out loud to 'the
spirits" on how to play the next
shot.
The newspaperman's game I'M
proved after electric shocks. He
could find his ball even when he
had sliced it into the rough. The
Army officer stopped talking to ''the
spirits"-and his game did not fall
OF.
Both are home now.
Il know the professional doesn't
like us to use the word" DR.. Davis
said to me. But when you see
things like that and see a dead man
like Archer brought back to life-it,s
miracle"