The management of the emotionally maladjusted soldier at a staging camp

Abstract

1. A group of 185 patients who were emotionally maladjusted were studied as a group project to determine whether such maladjustments were necessarily causes for separation from the service. 2. A special program was devised whereby the soldier was assigned to the station hospital at Camp Kilmer, N. J., in an effort to evaluate the personality over a further observation period without the necessity of confinement to the hospital. 3. The added period afforded for study, in the course of which the patient was on a duty status, living under normal barracks conditions and not hospitalized, served as a useful means of approaching this problem from a psychiatric standpoint and yet did not necessitate a prolonged study period. 4. Fifty-seven were subsequently discharged under one of three army regulations, 41 because of neurotic reactions. Eighty-four were classified for limited service, and the remaining 44 displayed such a degree of improvement that they returned to general military service. 5. As a result of this project, 69 per cent of the patients studied were salvaged and returned to a duty status.