MENTAL HEALTH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 330, 19 October 1945, Page 16

MENTAL HEALTH

La WAR NEUROSIS. By M. Bevan-Brown. NERVES, NERVINESS and NEUROSIS. by M. Bevan-Brown, 3. THE NATURE OF WAR NEUROSIS. By R. S. Allan. 4, TOWARDS RE-ADJUSTMENT: THE WOMAN’S PART. By Enid Cook. 5, EX-SERVICEMEN TALK IT OVER. By Frank Cook. 6. SEX "EDUCATION." By Enid Cook. 7. MENTAL HEALTH, By Ernest Beaglehole. »

(Reviewed for "The Listener’ by

GALEN

HE seven booklets listed above are described as belonging to the Lighthouse Series and as having been prepared by members of the Mental Health Club, Christchurch. They contain eight to eleven pages of letterpress each, they are attractively produced and are for sale at ninepence each. The only guide to the purpose of the series is contained in the preface to the first booklet on war neurosis. There it is stated that the booklet is not a treatise on war neurosis. It "is designed to give practical guidance to selatives and friends of ex-servicemen in helping them towards re-adjustment"; and is "the first of a series dealing with various aspects of the problem." If that is so, only the booklets No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 have a direct bearing upon the object for which the series was intended. The advice given in the first booklet on war neurosis is simple, straightforward, and practical. Of particular value is the account of the attitudes of relatives and friends which tend to aggravate the condition of the individual who has been exposed to the emotional stresses of war experiences. These. unfavourable attitudes, as they are called, should be clearly understood by everyone who is associated in any way with those who have returned from war service and are seeking to re-establish themselves in domestic and community life. The account of the favourable attitudes is not so clear. The reason for that can be understood, for it must be obvious that the practical application of patience, forbearance, sympathy, insight, and encouragement must depend in a large measure upon the personality and resources of the individual who must exercise them.

HE list of symptoms at the beginning of the booklet on nerves, nerviness, and neurosis is apt to be misleading and would have been better omitted in a publication prepared for the relatives and friends of ex-servicemen. Many of these symptoms can be due to other causes which do not come within the limits set by the subject of the booklet. The account of the subject itself is simple and easy to understand. The suggestion implied in the expression "controlling fear" might, however, lead to misunderstanding. An expression such as "guiding fear" would have been: more

accurate, less likely to be misunderstood, and more helpful. The third booklet on the nature of war neurosis is superfluous. It serves no good purpose in a series designed to help the relatives and friends of those who may be affected. The booklet on the woman’s part is an attempt to prepare the woman for what she may have to meet and deal with, even to the extent of sacrificing some of her own expectations and needs to do so. Advice on that aspect of the problem is essential; but it must be simple. Often the help that is needed and the advice that must be given can be discovered only when the problem of the particular people concerned is explored in detail. General advice is apt to fail. There are some ‘inaccuracies, due no doubt to the attempt to present what may bea very complex problem in a simple form. The statement that neurosis is due to being inadequately loved in early childhood is not necessarily true; it may have been enough that the child felt that he did not get or continue to get all the love and attention he himself thought that he should get. In any case, that may be only one of many factors in the causation of the condition, "Ex-servicemen Talk It Over" presents the problem of neurosis as it has always been with us, whether there has been a war or not;- pictures it as one of the problems of living and of adjusting oneself to others, to work and to the community; and discusses it in terms of people and their personal problems. ow * * HERE are in the series some defects which cannot be overlooked in booklets prepared for the use of lay people, who can easily misunderstand and be misled when some matters are not made clear. There is a complete lack of recognition of the fact that those who are subject to neurosis are as likely to be subject to other illnesses and diseases as are ordinary members of the community; it is in neurotic cases that the recognition of these other conditions is often most difficult. There is the assumption that, once the label of war neurosis has been applied, the matter is settled. There is over-emphasis on the label itself, with the risk that the ‘terms "neurosis" and "war neurosis" may be passed from one to another as the latest catchwords. There is incomplete emphasis upon the difference between essential depression and similar conditions on the one hand, and the conditions with which this series deals on the other hand. There is failure to recognise, especially in the last booklet on mental health, the imperative need that anyone, other than relatives and friends, who has to deal with individuals subject to neurosis must be fully qualified in medicine before he has any of the special training he needs to enable him to deal with them satisfactorily. New Zealand must be protected from any attempt to have it otherwise. . The purpose for which the series is intended is a worthy one. Booklets 1, 4, and 5 may be commended as suitable for the purpose for which: they were intended.