Eastern Connecticut news., 1946-11-02

COulQ not CaIk aDOuL CneSe SXpeT- fences before the treatment and often did not remember them. With the help of skilled PSycother- apist, the patient is given free and adequate drainage" for his emotional tension, which is fac tor in his recovery.
 The Army has also found that with the proper handling of a case good results may be obtained when man is hypnotized and an "emo- tionaI catharSis" is produced sim liar to the results obtained when the drugs are used.
 The increased use of group psy- chotherapy constitutes the second outstanding development in psy- chiatric treatment during the war. Under the leadership of a psychi- atrist, a group of patients with similar problems meet an hour a day for 10 to 30 discussions. The groups are usually from about IS to 25 men. The patients, under the leadership of skilled ther- apist, compare experiences, dis cuss their problems and through the insight gained in their cases good results are obtained in a fair percentage of patients treated in this manner.
 General Menninger pointed out that the Army's experiences in the Medical Department provide con- vincing proof that the modern physician must become acquainted with psychological medicine and the dynamics of personality adjust ment, as well as with the physical aspects of medical practice.
 Recent surveys in wards treat ing patients suffering from heart disease and gastrointestinal trou- ble showed that in as high as Al % of the cases there was no organic trouble. The emotional malad- justment of the patients often leads to the malfunctioning of certain organs of the body.
 Since the patients in hospital represent a fairly well-sifted group it may be assumed that the per- centage of such cases in the dis pensaries where soldiers first go on sick call would be much higher. The same can be said about com- plaints of civilians. The organs of the body act as mirrors for the emotional maladjustments of civ- ilians as we'll as soldiers. Head aches, pains in the back, heart dis turbances, and other symptoms frequently represent no organic trouble, but they are just as much of a problem to the individual and just as painful as disorders due to organic causes.
 General Menninger explained that it is not difficult for person to understand that blushing is a physiological change due entirely to emotion. Just as emotion can produce a change in the color of the face, it also can bring about functional changes in the heart, the stomach and other organs. 1 The psychiatrist is concerned with the treatment of cases suffer- ing from functional disorders due to emotional tension, but if doc tors generally had better under standing of the principles involved in this work, tremendous benefits would be derived by civilians in industry and all walks of life. The role of emotional factors in such cases represents one of the most promising areas of research with perhaps the largest reward in results of any group of prob lems in medicine. A major step forward will be the joint approach of the interniSt and the psychiat- rist, according to General Mennin- ger. He attributed the marked strides made in neuropsychiatry, which represent one of the major achievements of the Army's Med ical Department, to the skill and Knowledge of many of the nations outstanding psychiatristS, who were marshaled together by the Surgeon Generals Office to col laborate in the treatment and pre- vention of neuropsychiatric cases at time when there were more