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Because of its nature, the present war was expected to produce many cases of war neurosis in civilians. This expectation has not been quite fulfilled, according to recent reports from abroad (Glover [1], Mira [2], Pegge [3]) although Glover believes that many cases have not been properly diagnosed. We have had occasion to study a war neurosis in a civilian who was exposed to bombings in the London blitz. The case was unusual, to judge by the reports, in that the patient was a woman, and of especial interest since we were able to trace back many psychodynamic factors which produced the illness.
The patient, a white American woman, was forty-three when admitted to Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital in January 1942. She had been exposed to several bombings in London, and on April 16, 1941 during an exceptionally heavy air raid, a direct hit demolished her home and killed her husband. Since that time she has been ill, with symptoms that fell into three main groups (Chart 1). The first group of symptoms, which were more or less constant, and which would become quite aggravated by any unpleasant experience, began with the bomb hit and were most pronounced in the days immediately following. The patient described herself as having been extremely tense, jittery and very jumpy at that time; she perspired freely and frequently felt her heart pounding away at a furious rate. Associated with these feelings came a terrifying sense that something was going to happen: she was possessed by a fear of being injured, of having an arm or a leg torn off. At the same time she was extremely sensitive to noises, and quite irritable. As soon as the patient closed