Aviation Neuropsychiatry
- Author:
Ironside, M.B->
F.R.C.P., and I. R. C. Batchelor, M.B. Livingstone. 8s. 6d.
The authors have attempted to give a picture of the more common problems met with in R.A.F. Neuropsychiatry. The contents of this book are divided into three parts. Part I is concerned with flying and the normal individual ; Part II with the neuropsychiatry examination of patients who have broken down ; and Part III with neuropsychiatric disorders in Aviators. The latter is the longest section of the book and includes chapters on the etiology of neurotic reactions in relation to flying ; the various psychological reaction types ; sickness in the air ; disturbances of consciousness in the air ; neurotic visual disorders ; migraine and other types of headache ; unclassified nervous disorders ; head injuries and prognosis for flying after injuries and diseases of the nervous system.
It is obvious that the authors have attempted to cover a very wide field and some of the possible criticisms may be considered to result from the attempt to compress the extensive subject matter into the confines of 155 pages. For example, their brief remarks on special aptitude tests in relation to selection may be misleading. The authors, furthermore, were handicapped by the fact that the book was written during overseas service and they had no access to current literature ; consequently they were unable to make use of the considerable amount of research which has been carried out on these problems during the recent war.
Despite the self-imposed and unavoidable handicaps, the authors have written a very readable and interesting book. They show very clearly that although no mental illness is peculiar to flying personnel, a knowledge on the part of the psychiatrist of flying conditions is essential; and many of their case records bring out how the technical conditions have affected psychological reactions. The 43 Case Records are of great interest although in some instances the obvious necessity for curtailment must make the reader regret more than ever the paper shortage which necessitated it.
The book is, to a great extent, concerned with psychological illness in response to operational flying in war and the authors, having been in an operational area, were specially well situated to make their observations. Their brief account about psycho-somatic disorders in such a setting could well have been elaborated, if circumstances had permitted. The chapter on neurotic visual disorders is specially valuable. This book could hardly have been written earlier in the war ; it has, however, owing to the cessation of hostilities, necessarily lost some of its topical interest. J.F.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.