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The last World War became a war of nerves because it changed from a war of movement into a war of positions. Not only the acute instances of horror and shock in active warfare, but even more the inexorable element of 'time' proved an excessive burden to the 'nerves'.
In normal times, the psychiatrist in the army had been something of a luxury. His function lay merely in diagnosing the cases brought to him and in most cases, eliminating the patient from the army. During the last World War it suddenly developed that the 'psychic trauma' which a member of the fighting forces may have suffered, was of far-reaching importance, hardly secondary to physical injury. Many soldiers who had been found to be in good health physically as well as mentally at the time of their enlistment, showed symptoms of what was first called 'war hysteria'. Military psychiatrists, wavering in their attitude towards this nosological syndrome, could not make up their minds whether to consider the etiology organic or simply a matter of simulation. They were faced with the unfamiliar task of treating this host of war neurotics, curing them, and, if possible, returning them to active service.
Today we are engaged in another World War. Therefore it is of inestimable importance that at this moment there appears a book in which the experiences with the observation and treatment of war neuroses gathered during the last World War are compiled in a clear and systematic fashion. The importance of this is especially great as the present war is clearly destined to cause as yet incalculable ravages in the mental as well as in the physical health of the peoples involved.
The analyst will derive considerable satisfaction from the fact that this book is written entirely in the spirit of Freud. During the last World War those few of us who had already been taught the dynamics of the mental system by Freud, had to fight bitterly for the general recognition of the fact that mental disturbances