Army Psychiatry in the Korean War: The Experience of 1 Commonwealth Division

Epidemiology of psychiatric disorders sustained by a U.S. Army brigade combat team during the Iraq War

“…With the age group older than 35 years old as the referent category, the 18-to 23-year-old age group had a significantly increased adjusted IRR for becoming a psychiatric DNBI casualty, 1.80 (95% CI 1.21-2.69), while controlling for sex. Women, compared with men, had a significantly increased adjusted IRR for becoming a psychiatric DNBI casualty, 1.91 (95% CI 1.39- (0) 1.4 (7) 10.3 (53) 2.63), while controlling for rank. Significant main effects were noted for the variables of sex and rank group (Pb.002), indicating that female sex and junior enlisted rank group are important risk factors for becoming a psychiatric DNBI casualty.…”

“…This has been delineated in great detail in studies of the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf War [1][2][3][4][5]. Many recent studies have analyzed the medical aspects of the current Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom Conflicts [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

Shell shock: an outcome study of a First World War ‘PIE’ unit

“…No significant differences have been detected with practices in the Second World War apart from the use of barbiturates to induce an initial period of sleep in agitated patients. The forward unit set up at 25 Canadian Field Dressing Station for Commonwealth forces deployed to Korea followed the same management plan (Jones & Palmer, 2000). There is no report of any clinical innovation in PIE methods in Vietnam or the Lebanon.…”

“…The only surviving data for 25 Field Dressing Station, the specialist unit for Commonwealth troops in Korea referred to September 1952, when, of seven cases admitted, three were evacuated, two returned to limited duty and two returned to their units (War Diary, 1952). Anecdotal reports suggested that most soldiers returned to some form of duty after further training and assessment (Jones & Palmer, 2000). Although the US Army introduced forward psychiatric teams almost from the outset, no attempt was made to test their effectiveness.…”

Psychiatric battle casualties: An intra- and interwar comparison

“…Battle injuries and wounds to US forces fell to 170 per 1000 in 1951 and 57 per 1000 in 1952. No statistics survive for UK units in the early phase of the war but by December 1952 the proportion of battle exhaustion to battle casualty cases for 1 Commonwealth Division was 21 per 1000 and from May 1952 to the end of the war it fell to 18 per 1000 (Jones & Palmer, 2000: 258). Battle exhaustion cases were found to be closely correlated with battle casualties (Spearman's ρ=0.8, P =0.001).…”