War Neurosis, Adjustment Problems in Veterans, and an Ill Nation

The Disciplinary Project of American Psychiatry during and after World War II

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3924911
AutoresHans Pols (0000-0003-1722-3860, The University of Sydney, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Volumen22
Número1
Páginas72-92
Fecha de publicación2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaOsiris (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0369-7827 • E-ISSN: 1933-8287
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/521743
PMID18175466
OpenAlexW1969320155
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas23

After World War II, the confidence of American psychiatrists was at an all-time high as a result of their successful participation in the war. When the incidence of mental breakdown in the American armed forces rose to unprecedented heights, new and effective psychotherapeutic methods were developed to treat the traumatic effects of the extraordinary stresses of warfare. At the same time, social scientists concluded that breakdown incidence was inversely related to morale, which led to the development of preventive measures aimed at specific groups. Both initiatives stimulated a number of psychiatrists to plan projects of social engineering after the war. They first focused on aiding the reintegration of returning veterans. Later, they addressed the poor mental health of the American population as a whole, which they considered to be the consequence of faulty child-rearing methods

Discipline · Environmental health · Mental health · Military psychiatry · Neurosis · Political science · Population · Psychiatry · Spanish Civil War · World War II · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medicine · Psychology