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Psychotherapy With Pentothal Narcosis requires psychiatric understanding and cannot be employed successfully as a means of reducing anxiety as though anxiety were a substance to be drained off. There must be an attempt to synthetize, using the assets of the personality after the stressful situation has been abreacted. The emphasis on the value of abreaction may lead to the assumption that it is the focal point of treatment, to the exclusion of matters which may be of greater significance. The patient may find it much easier to dwell on his combat experiences than on other current [or infantile, Ed.] situations. The psychiatrist may fall into this trap and be kept from discovering frustration which prevents recovery.
Psychiatric Nomenclature represents a conglomerate of terms with a wide latitude of classification of psychotic responses and a very limited and rigid classification of neurotic responses. Even among psychiatrists, there is a widespread lack of uniformity in the interpretation of various diagnostic categories. The Neuropsychiatry Consultants Division of The Surgeon General's Office, in attempting a revision of the diagnostic terminology, has held numerous conferences and solicited widely the opinions of leading psychiatrists in military and civilian life.
The term 'psychoneurosis' is to be dropped from the individual clinical records in army medical installations. In its stead, the physician will designate the specific type of psychoneurotic response, such as 'anxiety reaction', 'conversion reaction', 'compulsive obsessive reaction'. In addition to this term designating the syndrome, a brief statement on the personality structure and predisposition will be made, a brief statement on the external precipitating stress in the present illness, and finally an evaluation of the functional capacity of the individual to carry on in his last assignment. By this method it is believed the psychiatrist will of necessity be more specific and will be required t