Notes

A subcommittee of the MILITARY MOBILIZATION COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION has recently been appointed to deal with matters of civilian mental health. Among the questions under consideration is that of the availability of psychiatric personnel. Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, chairman, says: 'We can say with reasonable justification that it seems probable that a considerable shortage of psychiatric personnel available for service to the civilian population will arise if the armed forces call for psychiatric assistance to the extent which now seems possible. It is at present impossible to tell whether the increasing dislocation of civilian life attendant upon the speed-up of rearmament will result in a rise in the number of adjustment difficulties. The reports upon this issue from other national groups are conflicting. It seems certain, however, that the load upon the psychiatric personnel will be increased by two factors. The first is the psychiatric examinations now going on at the draft boards and the induction centers will result in detection and rejection of considerable numbers of poorly adjusted individuals. The responsibility for the care of these men will be passed back to the psychiatrist in civilian life. The second factor is constituted by the constantly widening territory into which the psychiatrist is called to enter in his efforts to control behavior. The great acceleration in the rate of social evolution and disintegration which is now going on will certainly lead to the psychiatrists' assuming still wider responsibilities.'