Preventive psychiatry; an epidemiologic approach.

In the spring of 1944 psychiatric disorders were occurring in large numbers among United States troops engaged in the bitter fighting in Italy at Cassino and Anzio. In an effort to seek measures which might reduce loss in manpower from this cause, the senior author was sent from the Surgeon General's office to the Italian theater to confer with combat psychiatrists and to study the problem at first hand. The report of this study is considered of interest at present because of observation it contains concerning the incidence and cause of psychiatric disorders under the stress of combat. In addition, it illustrates an epidemiologic approach to preventive psychiatry which was effective in the army and should be directly applicable elsewhere. This approach aims primarily at modifying environmental factors in specific situations where large numbers of psychiatric cases are occurring. Means are sought to reduce the stresses in the situation and