Mental Health in the Services
News and Notes
In the July number of the Journal reference was made to a memorandum on Recruiting Boards and the psychological examination of recruits which the National Council for Mental Hygiene had under consideration and which had the approval ?f the British Medical Association, the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, and the British Psychological Society. From enquiries recently made it appears that several of the recommendations which the Council had in view have now been Put into effect by the Army authorities, among these being training for R.A.M.C. doctors dealing with the psychiatric treatment of nervous disorders. It is understood that a training course for doctors in the Emergency Health Service, who will have to deal with war neuroses, is projected. Facilities are now also in existence for the Cental testing of recruits under training. There is, however, a need for a short, c?ncise test to detect psychiatric types which could successfully be applied in the limited time at present allowed for the medical examination of recruits, but at present Qothing of the kind exists.
It is interesting to note that mental tests for the grouping of men in the military forces have been introduced by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene of Canada in the Canadian Army. Experimental results have been such that the use ?f these tests is being extended to training camps in general.
Middlesex Home Teaching Scheme
Three out of the five Home Teachers previously employed by the C.A.M.W. for w?rk under the Middlesex Mental Deficiency Committee continue to carry on and are doing excellent work amongst the defectives still left in their homes. The value of Home Teaching has been strikingly demonstrated during these Months of crisis. Through the training given to the child and to those responsible his care, the defective has been taught to make such a satisfactory adaptation to *he life of the home that in many cases he has not only ceased to be a burden but has become an actual asset, and therefore, as a general rule, war conditions have not necessitated his evacuation. For the most part, it has been found that the defectives visited have automatically and unperturbably continued to carry out the work assigned to them, with the added zest that has come from being able to make scarves, etc., for the Forces ; frequently with the departure of other members of the family mothers ^ave found them comforting companions and helpers. This happy state of things, it is emphasized by one of the Home Teachers concerned, may be attributed all?ost entirely to the fact that training in the home has been given regularly over a long period, and both mother and child have learnt to make the fullest use of it. he Occupation Centre-trained defective undoubtedly has a fuller and more varied ^e> but when he is suddenly deprived of this, it would seem that he tends to suffer ^0re acutely and to present a more difficult problem than the child whose training as been for the home and in the home.
An interesting experiment in Group Teaching for children formerly attending the local Occupation Centres, has been started in the Ealing and Edmonton districts. Groups of defectives, varying from three to five in number, are being taught regularly in one or other of their homes, and a total of sixty-four children are being provided for in this way. The Juniors have a class once a week, and the Seniors once a fort- night. It is hoped that it may be possible to extend this scheme which is working very satisfactorily.
Barnsley’s Educational Psychologist
Miss Ruth Thomas, one of the Educational Psychologists on the staff of the Central Association for Mental Welfare, was lent to the Barnsley Education Com- mittee in January 1940, to carry out a piece of pioneer work in the schools which has paved the way for the appointment of a permanent psychologist (Mr. Robert K- Robertson from Hull University College).
Miss Thomas, who spent over six months in the area, gave a number of lectures to teachers on dealing with backward children and on methods of organization in schools likely to assist in the prevention of emotional difficulties. She paid special attention to the development of play methods in Infant Schools and to the preliminary work necessary for the organization of backward classes. She also helped in the examination of cases referred to the Child Guidance Clinic, including those referred by the Children’s Court. This Clinic is at present in an early stage of its development and further appointments to the staff are under consideration.
The C.A.M.W. feel that the Barnsley Education Authority is to be congratulated on carrying through so successfully a pioneer effort of this kind at a time when such developments are beset with exceptional difficulties. The Association wishes also to express its appreciation of the kindness and enthusiasm with which Miss Thomas was received and of the ready co-operation given to her by the Committee’s members, officials and teachers.
Child Guidance Council
Two new child guidance clinics, both fully staffed, have been opened during the past three months, one at 6 Park Street, Maidenhead, and one in N. E. Lancashire to serve Blackburn, Accrington, Bacup, Colne, Nelson, Rawtenstall and Lancashire County Council. Administrative Headquarters are at Accrington. The Council is lending the services of Miss J. Guthrie, psychiatric social worker, lately on the staff of the Liverpool Child Guidance Clinic, for a period of six months to the N.E* Lancashire Clinic and Mrs. Henshaw, educational psychologist, will also work at this clinic for a similar period. It is expected that Dr W. M. Burbury will be the psychiatrist. Part of Mrs. Henshaw’s time, as a member of the Council’s staft will be devoted to research in juvenile delinquency on material made available by the Bradford Education Authority.
The establishment of the Clinic at Maidenhead is due to the work of Miss B. H. Robinson, psychiatric social worker, who has been dealing with evacuees in that area since the outbreak of war. Dr Grace Calver is the psychiatrist and Mrs. Oppenheimer (formerly Miss Duschinsky) the educational psychologist. At first, sessions are being held on alternate Tuesdays only but it is anticipated that the number will be increased.
The Council has again undertaken to finance the practical training of Mental Health Course students. In view of the dearth of psychologists with child guidance experience, it is hoped, in addition, to award one Fellowship in Psychology for training a worker.
Funds are to be provided for instituting a three months’ Course of training f?r older women to act as superintendents of hostels and homes for children, Specially for unbilletable evacuees. It is felt that the provision of such a training ls of national importance at the present time.
Child Guidance in Surrey
The Reigate Child Guidance Clinic (Group 2)?established to deal with the general psychological difficulties of billeting in the area and, in particular, for the treatment of difficult children evacuated there?completed its first year of service on October 21st.
The staff in the first instance consisted of three psychiatrists, one of whom (Dr Durrant) is still in charge, and of Miss Keir, psychologist. Sixty cases were dealt with during the first three months. Since that time, with a depleted staff, fewer children have been treated. In all, 170 cases have been seen. The staff has recently been augmented by the addition of Miss Nevill of the Psychological Clinic, Cower Street, London.
Miss Keir was officially appointed by the Ministry of Health in March 1940 as Psychologist for Reigate and the adjoining areas. In May her services were requisitioned for one day a week by the neighbouring billeting area of Oxted, and thirty children from this district have been dealt with by her. Children from Dorking and Horley have also attended the Reigate Clinic.
In December 1939 a similar Clinic was established in Guildford under the Medical directorship of Dr Durrant, with Mrs. Shawyer as Psychiatric Social Worker and Miss Keir as psychologist, these two latter being subsequently succeeded by Miss Perrott and Mr. John Raven, appointed by the Child Guidance Council. The Clinic (which is recognized by the Council as a Group 1 Clinic), treats not only evacuees ^ut also local children, and 93 cases have been dealt with up to date.
The National Council for Mental Hygiene
Numerous meetings of A.R.P. and First Aid workers, nurses and others have been addressed by the Council’s lecturers recently on the subject of dealing with cases nervous manifestations and on maintaining the stability of the civilian. There ls much evidence that these lectures have been of real practical value in the present ettiergency as also the Council’s pamphlets on the subject for which there has been an increasingly large demand.
118 MENTAL HEALTH The Council’s Joint Sub-committee of the pre-war Standing Committees has been giving attention among other matters to the question of psychological problems of the Women’s Services, and lectures to foreign refugees at present in Internment Camps. One of the objects of these lectures is to provide preparation for the future when aliens return to their respective countries and have to cope with the changed conditions of the post-war period.
Mental Hygiene Film
The film ” Fear and Peter Brown to which reference was made in the July number of Mental Health, has recently been shown in a number of cinemas both in London and the provinces. The British Council, it is learnt, included the film in their list for showing at the New York World Fair. Further bookings have been arranged by the distributors, among these being :
St. Helens Palladium Cinema Nov. llth-13th, 1940. Crosby Plaza Cinema Nov. 14th-16th, 1940. Leeds Lounge Cinema, Headingley Nov. 18th-23rd, 1940. ? Burmantofts Cinema Dec. 23rd-25th, 1940. Ashby, Lincs Globe Cinema Nov. 21st-23rd, 1940. Heswall King’s Cinema Nov. 28th-30th, 1940. Brigg Grand Cinema Dec. 2nd-4th, 1940. Dunfermline Regal Cinema Dec. 23rd-25th, 1940. Aberdeen Topical News Theatre Dec. 30th, 1940-Jan. 4th, 1941.
Mental Health Emergency Committee
The substantial Treasury Grant to which reference was made in our last issue, has enabled the work of the Mental Health Emergency Committee to go forward with new impetus and into new fields, at a time when intensive bombing attacks have created an urgent need for Mental Health service.
At the time of writing these notes, special demands are being made for skilled help and care on the part of men, women and children in London’s Shelters for the Homeless, who have been unnerved by their experiences, including those who are unstable, hysterical, epileptic, mentally defective or senile. The Committee’s workers are able to advise on the facilities available for such cases, and to help in finding special billets for them. This is no easy matter in view of the congestion in all the areas around London which may be considered to be reasonably ” safe but every attempt is being made to find a solution, and through the co-operation of mental health workers throughout the country it is hoped that it will be found possible to extend this service.
The co-operation of the Ministry of Labour in the Committee’s work has been obtained, and Divisional Controllers and Managers of Labour Exchanges have been informed of its activities and of the help it can offer in the case of workers in industrial areas who, by reason of their mental condition, are unable to hold their own without special support.
Work amongst evacuated children has continued, and, with the evacuation of further coastal towns, is considerably increasing. Through the Child Guidance Council, which was approached by a responsible authority, a Survey of Hostels for Difficult Children was made in one Region, and as a result of the reports received from Mental Health workers all over the country as well as of the data furnished by the Survey, the Committee drew up certain recommendations to facilitate the selection, classification and treatment of children sent to such Hostels. The Committee is in a position to loan workers for the purpose of carrying out further Surveys and would Welcome applications for this service.
The Child Guidance Council is able to offer three months’ training experience t? a small number of selected candidates wishing to take up Hostel work, for which there is a constant demand. Applications from suitable people wishing to take advantage of this opportunity are invited.
Miss Martland, the Committee’s Regional Representative in Region 10 (West- morland, Cumberland, Lancashire and Cheshire), has been unceasingly active, and her personal contacts with the Regional Representatives of the various Government departments and voluntary organizations in the area have resulted in the employment ?f two Mental Health workers through the Committee’s Loan Service scheme?one in Westmorland for work amongst evacuated children, and one to help, more especially, with the industrial side of the work. Through Miss Martland’s efforts also, many increasing demands have come from this Region for the Notes drawn up by the National Council for Mental Hygiene and designed for the instruction of A-R.P. personnel, First Aid workers, and others.
Miss Findlay, a worker of wide experience with a special knowledge of Yorkshire, has been appointed to act as the Committee’s representative in Civil Defence Region 2. It is encouraging to be able to report that in this grave emergency the value of *he Committee’s work is being so widely recognized and that it is in a position to respond, at least in some degree, to the majority of the calls made upon it.
^he Scottish Association for Mental Hygiene
Mental Deficiency Section. The majority of the Centres have been opened since the beginning of September. The pupils were glad to be back and the attendance has been excellent. Gas-mask drill now takes a definite place in the daily programme of work. In several of the Centres for older girls, war comforts are being made, the Materials being supplied by the Women’s Voluntary Services. Despite the present situation, orders continue to keep the Employment Centres fully occupied. In some areas the Centre premises have unfortunately been commandeered by the Military authorities. Where this has taken place, the Committee in charge have made arrangements for official home visitation of the pupils so that contact may be retained as far as possible.
The Social Club for lads who are boarded out in the North Argyll area expects *? resume its activities in the near future.
Mental Health Section. The Mental Health Committee have, during the past months, organized a series of lectures throughout Scotland on various psychological problems of war, especially on the question of fear in air raids. The lectures, which were well attended, were given by experts and the audiences comprised Air Raid Wardens, A.R.P., W.V.S., V.A.D. and Red Cross workers, as well as Heads of Departments of large stores and interested general public. Requests for further lectures continue to be made. Articles for the public press have also been prepared and it is hoped that a series for Broadcasts may be possible. This work has been undertaken in co-operation with the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Home Security.
Child Guidance Section. The Committee of this Section met during the month of June, when arrangements for future activities were discussed. The Emergency Committee of the Scottish Association for Mental Hygiene held its first meeting of this new session last week, when Reports on the work were submitted and items of business agreed to.
C.A.M.W. Emergency Homes
Defectives, who formerly attended the Middlesex Occupation Centres with others evacuated from dangerous areas in the county, are still being cared for at the Homes administered by the C.A.M.W., at Basingstoke and at Stanton Drew, Somerset, where two houses have been taken for the purpose. In one of the houses girls evacuated from the Association’s Holiday Home at Seaford are accommodated, and in the other, boys evacuated from the Bognor Home.
The Home at Weston-super-Mare continues to be occupied by patients from Coldeast Colony, Hampshire, and the Home at Rhyl by defectives for whom the Lancashire Mental Hospitals Board are responsible.
Eire’s First Psychiatric Clinic
The first Annual Report on the Psychiatric Out-Patient’s Clinic inaugurated at the County Hospital, Wexford, in May 1939, has just been issued.
The Clinic, which has the distinction of being the first of its kind in Eire, is under the direction of Dr Charles B. Molony, Medical Superintendent of the District Mental Hospital, Enniscorthy, who testifies to its value in providing an opportunity for diagnosing and treating early cases of nervous and mental disorder, as well as in forming a useful link in the after-treatment and observation of patients discharged from the mental hospital.
During the year, 84 patients were treated, and 67 confidential medical reports were supplied to general practitioners referring patients. In only 11 cases was it found necessary to recommend admission to the Mental Hospital and of these ll> 4 have since been discharged.
We should like to congratulate Dr Molony and his Committee on the successful inauguration of this pioneer venture and to express the hope that it may lead to the opening of further Clinics in Eire and subsequently perhaps to the introduction of Psychiatric Social Work in connection with them.
Dementia Praecox Research
In the July 1940 issue of Mental Hygiene, the organ of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene (U.S.A.), an interesting account is published of research into the causes of that obscure and most prevalent of all mental diseases, dementia praecox ?r schizophrenia. The subject is receiving the serious attention of a group of scientists and the research is claimed to be the most significant effort yet undertaken. Some seventy-four investigators in thirteen scientific centres are engaged in an organized and co-ordinated attempt to get at the fundamentals of the problem.
Workers in various branches of medical science have pooled their resources in an integrated series of researches dealing with special aspects of the disorder, from the standpoints of psychiatry, neurology, psychology, physiology, chemistry, genetics, and other biological disciplines. These have already been at work for five years ?n some twenty specific projects. The first year was spent in a preliminary survey ?f the status of scientific work on dementia praecox in the U.S.A. and other countries, conducted by Dr Nolan D. C. Lewis, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Hospital, under the direction of a special advisory committee appointed by the National Committee for Mental Hygiene.
Dr Lewis reports that the investigations so far carried out are reaching a point where practical results are beginning to be observed in the disclosure of hitherto Unknown factors in the disease. The whole life span is encompassed in the plan of these studies which cover such facets of the problem as are more directly open to observation and experimentation, each research project being related to every other as part of a co-ordinate whole. In order to utilize as many approaches to the problem as are feasible, the advisory committee decided that not only workers in psychiatry and psychology should be consulted, but also scientists in other fields of research, Particularly those engaged in the so-called biological sciences. The attempt is, therefore, made to learn of the various possibilities in the realms of ethnology, heredity, infant growth and behaviour, physiology, pathology and chemistry, as well as in experimental psychology and psychiatry itself.
In studies of the constitution and body structure of patients afflicted with dementia praecox, attention has been centred on investigations of the circulatory system in which a new technique is being employed. An attempt is also being made to obtain a clearer understanding of schizophrenic development in the individual in the immediate period before definite mental illness appears, in the hope that earlier recognition of the condition will help in averting a breakdown, and an investigation is being carried out among a group of 8,000 schoolchildren with reference to the relation of extreme shyness and timidity to dementia praecox symptoms. A further study of early manifestations of the disorder carries the search for pathological indications back to infancy and the pre-natal period, in an effort to determine what significance certain behaviour reactions in new-born babies may have for mental health and personality development in later life. The question of heredity in dementia Praecox is being investigated by a geneticist and studies are also being conducted by an anthropologist.
Institute for the Scientific Treatment of Delinquency, Annual Report, 1939 During 1939, despite war conditions, the number of new patients admitted to the Institute was 165?only one less than in 1938. Of this number, 48 were treated, 79 were examined but not treated, 3 were still under observation at the end of the year under review, 21 were on the evening waiting list (suspended in September), and 14 were placed on the ordinary Waiting List.
During the year a total number of 107 patients (new and old) were treated. The majority of the cases were referred for theft, and the second largest group fell in the category of ” Sex Cases “. Referrals for shop lifting are described as having been ” mysteriously low for several years and in 1939 there were none at all.
Special attention has been paid to problems presented by refugee evacuated children likely to become delinquent, and facilities for consultations have been given to the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany and the Germany Emergency Committee of the Society of Friends. The Educational side of the Institute’s work was carried on during the first six months of the year under review, and in April 1939, 21 students sat for the examination terminating the first year’s work for the Diploma in Social Studies of the University of London. The second part of the Course had unfortunately to be postponed owing to the war, but it is hoped to resume it in January 1941. Enquiries should be addressed to the Secretary, 8 Portman Street, London, W.l.
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