Mental Health by The National Library of Medicine

This film illustrates how to care for and handle neuropsychiatric patients in the military. The importance of empathy and support toward those who are ill is emphasized, and effective communication is modeled. Corpsmen who are assigned to assist these patients are trained to recognize mental illness as a condition that requires treatment, is not a symptom of laziness or lack of courage, and is not within the control of the sick man to simply fix through force of will. Cases shown include combat fatigue, catatonia, suicidal behavior, and psychopathy.

This film is an introduction to combat psychiatry for medical officers, line officers, and corpsmen. At sick call the night before a battle, men present with physical symptoms such as upset stomach and headache that signal their mental distress. The medical officer decides, based on his own examination and on information gathered from officers or men in the patient's unit, whether the patient should be sent back to his unit or evacuated. The importance of emotional support is shown.

Warm sympathy and human understanding are powerful instruments in helping mental health patients; this is the inherent message of this film. This documentary is focused primarily on the relationship between two people: an elderly man who cannot feed himself and will not respond when approached, and a psychiatric aide (attendant) who refused to be discouraged even though help for the patient seems hopeless. Genuine suspense is achieved as the aide, with infinite patience and honest compassion, wins the confidence of the patient.

The psychiatric impact of war on soldiers is addressed, and the U.S. military's approach to helping affected soldiers is described. There are battle scenes, men awaiting evacuation from the front, and a rehabilitation center where the soldiers relax, exercise, and are reconditioned with battle training. Psychiatrists interview the men. A chronic anxiety case is shown, as well as an hysterical amnesia patient. The need for men to actively participate in their own recovery is stressed. At the end, recovered patients are shown at a neuro-psychiatric clearing station.

This is the dramatization of the case history of Margaret, a 23-year-old girl who has physical disorders with no clear cause. A psychiatrist, probing Margaret's past, shows her the root of her troubles--childhood overprotection and discouragement of her efforts to express herself, resulting in a crippling fear of failure and a complete inability to assert herself. When Margaret understands her problem, she begins to handle it, starting new and healthier habits of behavior.

Convulsive shock's usefulness in treating affective disorders is discussed. Metrazol convulsions have been the most popular method, but spinal and extremity fractures made it hazardous until preliminary curare therapy markedly softened the convulsions. A case of manic excitement is shown to illustrate the curare-metrazol therapy. Good results are usually seen after six to eight treatments. A second treatment using quinine methochloride instead of curare is shown. Methoquinine and metrazol may be administered simultaneously. Post-treatment apnea is more prolonged with curare.

The life of the typical teen in the late 1960s is presented, with rebellion and experimentation in clothes, hair, and extracurricular activities discussed, along with peer pressure and the effect it can have on teens. The dangers of drugs, and LSD in particular, are described, with doctors, scientists, and geneticists discussing the possible effects of LSD on the body, including chromosomal damage that can affect future generations. The impact on fetal development in animals given LSD is shown.