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The author summarizes the highlights of psychiatric work in Britain during the present war. He relates how the British organized psychiatric facilities to prepare for the psychiatric casualties expected during the blitz. However, there were few psychiatric casualties, due in a great degree to the feeling of being prepared. The high morale of the people was a most important factor in preventing breakdowns. During the 'phoney' war period from September 1939 until May 1940, there were psychiatric casualties due to immobilization, boredom and 'barbed wire disease'. Dunkirk produced the first real war casualties and confirmed the fact that even the healthiest personalities can break down in wartime.
As early as 1940, English psychiatrists were using narcoanalysis. The influence of air raids on the incidence of psychoses was negligible except in old people in whom there was a greater occurrence of senile dementia. Anxiety states predominated and, strikingly, soldiers broke down more frequently from air raid strain than civilians. It was found that the evacuation of children from their homes produced more serious repercussions than air raids. There was a noted increase in juvenile delinquency as a result of the disruption of home life. The ground force had a higher percentage of casualties than the navy or the air force due to the stricter selection of men in the latter two branches. Those of borderline intelligence or less were the most frequent psychiatric casualties,