ANALYSIS OF CERTAIN FACTORS IN HISTORIES OF TWO HUNDRED SOLDIERS DISCHARGED FROM THE ARMY FOR NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES

1. We have reviewed 200 consecutive case histories of soldiers discharged from the army at Camp Lee, Virginia, because of neuropsychiatric disabilities. 2. Of that group about one-half were psychoneurotic, a little less than a third psychotic, and about one-sixth epileptic. 3. Eighty-three per cent presented prominent symptoms for at least one year before induction; a little more than half for over 5 years. Of the 11 per cent in which the onset occurred after induction, all but one patient were psychotic. 4. Almost half became disabled within the first month of military service, 75 per cent within two months, and 97 per cent within 6 months after they began army duty. 5. Only 18.5 per cent had good work records. 6. Thirty-nine and five-tenths per cent had heavily loaded family histories. 7. Military service, in itself, could not be said to be the cause of the disabilities in the majority of our cases. 8. The majority of the psychiatric casualties we encountered could have been eliminated at the induction board if relatively simple social service data had been made available.