TREATMENT OF SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 131, 20 February 1918, Page 6

TREATMENT OF SOLDIERS

A STATEMENT BY DR. THACKER

ANSWERED.

The statement has recently been made by Dr. Thacker in this city that men coming hack from the war suffering from shell shock are being dubbed lunatics, that in his opinion this is a disgraceful state of affairs, and that the soldiers should have a home of their own. .

This mutter was referred to the Mental Hospitals Department, and the Minister of Public Health has received a report from the Department oil the matter. From tho beginning of tho war until January 31, 1918, there havo' been received from the Expeditionary Force <I 4 patients requiring treatment in mental hospitals. Of this number, 15 have been discharged, and 29 are in the institutions at present. As a, matter of fact, all these men have not been sent direct to the mental hospitals. For tho past eighteen months the policy has been to send roturnod soldiers suffering from shell shock to special homes—the Karitano Home in the South Island, and the Wolfe Home near Auckland. No neurasthenic or shell-shock cases are sent to the mental hospitals. The cases aro solected with the utmost caro by an expert who meets every transport bringing men back to this country. There aro cases which do not ccme within tho category of neurasthenia or shell shock, and which would not benefit from the treatment which could bo given them at the homesmen who would be a danger to themselves if sent there, and a sourco of irritation to tho other patients. In tho interests of tho men themselves, and in accordance with the law, tl'ey are forwarded to tho mental hospitals for _ treatment. There they are not subject to unnecessary restraint, not even so much restraint as ivould ha necessary if they were in rest homes. On the contrary, in the larger homes it is possible to give them a degree of freedom that would ho impossible in institutions of another oVaracter. Such patients, when they are placed in mental hospitals, are treated in the best parts of the institution, and they receive the greatest amount of wire compatible with their safety. It will, of course, bo understood that many of thoee cases are. insanity oases pure and simple, bearing no relation to shell shock, and they aro oases wbich in the natural course of events would have como into tho mental tespitals. It is possible that the stress of war and tho change of environment liavo ■ been accelerating causes. I'torn year to year there aro a obtain number of .cases of insanity occurring in men of military ago, who, a? far as gnlier.il health is concerned, would easily [nss tho medical tost required for military; service. '

It is worth rcnmvk that since iho war began 45 soldiers have been ieceived into ihe liieivcd hospitals from the camps, as against -14 returned Hdiers. Thero (ire at present icnuicing in the institutions 23 soldiers from the camps, and 21 returned soldiers. There is a law of nvsngts for the occurrences of cases of insanity, and this law operates whether the country is at'war or ;iot. Iu nccord'iiwe with tho law there will he tho usual percentage of oases among the soldiers going on active ssr/ice.