"SHELL SHOCK" CASES

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 246, 5 July 1918, Page 6

"SHELL SHOCK" CASES

j, ' -treatment op returned f'." n SOLDIERS j POSITION DISCUSSED BY R.S.A. j tho treatment [of returned soldiers sufi fcring from mental trouble was mention- :. ■eu at a meeting of the Wellington lie- . turned Soldiers'. Association last night. ; Jlcmbprs urged strongly that the prcsant ; position was not satisiactory. Mr. J. Seal said r painful case had occurred recently. Two returned soldiers had been taken from a hospital ship to the Porirua Mental Hospital. They were refused admission because they had not been medically examined. They were then i ' tnjten to the Court and the. uecessary . papers were, rushed through. The two ■ men were then admitted to the institution; but one of them was discharged the next day, on the ground that he was not insane at all. , Other members urged that special treatment should be provided for returned soldiers, who should not bo .sent to | the ordinary mental hospital at all. Mr. J. Fox said that if the Government ' could not provide a special mental hospital for soldier cases, it should at least set apart special wards. Men who ■ had becomo unbalanced mentally owing to their servico at the front ought not to bo mixed up with ordinary mental . rases. The incident mentioned by Mr. - Seal had been an unfortunate one, but the officers of tho association had received nil assurance that nothing of the sort ■; would happen again. No returned soldiers were going to be sent to the incur tal hospitals before they had been cxnmined in New Zealand by experts. Tho : association had arranged for visits by its own members to soldier patients in Poritur. He realised that the members of tli6 association conld not place themselves in tho position of specialists in dealing wilh mental cases. Mr. C. Gough strongly urged the need of a special mental hospital for afflicted returned 6oldiers. These men should not ijie required to associate with congenital . and hereditary lunatics and with' the ivictims of jrice. Mr. Gougli moved "That this meeting views with alarm the increasing number of suicides, deaths, and court cases in whioh returned soldiers ara concerned, and', urges tho Government to establish a State' farm iwhere mental, neurasthenic, and shellshock among returned soldiers can "bo accommodated and cared for under healthy environment." Mr. M. Badger protested against anything being said that would reflect generally on the patients in mental. hospitals. Insane people were not criminals. A perdentage of the returned soldiers would become insane in any case. Venereal disease was a cause of insanity. There ■was necessity for classification of mentally -afflicted men, hut the. Government recognised this fact. The authorities were training experts to deal with the afflicted men. The whole subject was enormously complicated, and the association must be careful not to nllow enthusiasm to run away with discretion. Mr Seal said ho had ,visited the returned soldiers now in Porirua, and had . come away, with the impression that the men would havo a much better chance if they were separated from ordinary inmates of the institution. Mr. D. A. Higgie moved as an amendClient that the association should endorse the decisions' of tho recent Auckland con- . ference. The conferenco had received ex-pert-medical-advice, and it had decided against th establishment of special inBtihitions for mcntnlly afflicted returned' soldiers at the present time. Returned soldiers were not placed in the mental hospitals if they were in the least likely benefit by convalescent -treatment. Jho whole position had been very fully discussed at Auckland, where the delefates had telt that it was not desirablo now to withdraw doctors from the iront to control special mental hospiThe chairman (Mr. J: D. Harper) said that one of, the advisers of the conference had been a medical expert of high standing The ordinary visitor to a mental hospital could get no reliable inlormation about the condition of inmates by personal observation. A man who.was definitely insane and who could not possibly be released would often be able to talk logically and make moving appeals. Tho amendment was carried by a lariro „ majority. ■ °