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10
Psycho-physical illness.
Much of this type of invalidity is both mental and physical, a
feature of disease which is reserved for the human species alone.
The present century has already seen a steady rise in psychophysical
illnesses of all kinds. To these the War has now added both
a rush of new cases and a variety of new types corresponding to ever
changing stresses.
Of those stresses one can only speak in general terms. The
effects of bombing and of battle have proved less serious than had been
forecast. It seems finally clear that, where the body escapes, the
human mind can withstand a shock even of extreme violence so long
as it is of brief duration and admits of some sort of direct or indirect
action in reply. The true factors possessing the power to break down
human resistance are long-continued anxiety to which no term can be
fixed; or, again, long periods of unreasonably severe self-denial or
privation. To this one should add that, where any particular stress has
to be suffered in the home rather than in the field, the load becomes
proportionately greater.
Looking at our community in this light, it becomes evident that,
although on the physical side the people have escaped the major
disasters of famine and pestilence, on the mental and moral sides they
have come through devastating experiences from which they cannot
expect to escape unscathed. Apart from causing anxiety and
privation, the War has broken down that first bulwark of national
health which has always been the family unit. With it the education
of the young has partly broken down, sowing the seeds of delinquency
and unhappiness for many years to come. Among young adults,
morals have loosened and standards of honesty have lapsed. Finally,
in attempting to restore the family unit, we are confronted with a
grievious shortage of houses.
It seems a safe prophecy that, for so long as peace remains a mere
breathing space between wars, psycho-physical illness can only increase.
Presumably, however, with the advent of the new Health Centres,
more and more of its problems will receive statistical recognition and
some may then prove amenable to statutory attention at their source.