Details

Subject(s)

• Neuroses [Browse]
• Psychology, Pathological [Browse]

Summary note

"It is psychologically as well as socially and medically desirable that representative cases of the functional neuroses be accorded the more thorough individual and group attention already given to the various other neuropsychiatric conditions. From this point of view it is fortunate that during the recent war a special hospital was designated where soldiers with persistent psychoneurotic symptoms were assembled for further observation and diagnosis, care and treatment. U. S. A. General Hospital No. 30, at Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y., was so designated. Along with the other hospital services, a psychological service was established, of which the writer was the director. Along with the routine duties of the service, which was also charged with the conduct of occupational therapy, a group of about 1,200 consecutive cases was given special attention. Through the courtesy of the medical staff and the cordial cooperation of the various hospital services, complete data and records concerning all cases were accessible. Personal observations of all cases and extended examination and observation of cases of special interest were facilitated. Psychological examinations were made of each individual, of such range and technique as the case and the interest and time of the psychological staff seemed to warrant. The briefest examination undertaken was such an investigation of intellectual capacity and mental alertness as would enable a record to be made of the individual's mental age. The examinations ranged from this minimum to cases studied for a total of ten hours or more, by nearly every available form of qualitative and quantitative psychological technique. The value of such an opportunity is apparent. Here was an array of over a thousand psychoneurotics, whose symptoms were at least of such definite character that the individuals were found unadaptable to the conditions of service in a group enterprise. In the classification of patients in the data here reported, the final diagnoses as recorded in the patients' clinical record were followed. No attempt is made to explain the significance of these various categories, since they accord with the common use of the terms in contemporary neuropsychiatric literature. Readers unfamiliar with the terms will find them clearly explained and illustrated in the modern texts in psychiatry." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Notes

Includes index.

Reproduction note

Electronic reproduction. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association, 2005. Available via the World Wide Web. Access limited by licensing agreement.

Other format(s)

Also issued in print.

Other title(s)

PsycBOOKS.

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