The Psychology and Physiology of Stress: With Reference to Special Studies of the Viet Nam War

A new generation of the US Armed Forces is now engaged in another interminable overseas combat campaign with all of the frustrations, privations, and hazards. Only fragmentary reports of the psychiatric experiences of this war in Viet Nam have thus far appeared. However, all accounts, which include semi-official reports (Office of the Surgeon General, 1968), agree that the rate of psychiatric breakdown in US combat personnel is considerably lower than that of WW II and the Korean War, and even WW I. The overall incidence of psychiatric disorders from the US Army in Viet Nam is stated to be no higher than from troops stationed in the United States. Moreover, relatively few instances of so-called combat fatigue, common in WW II and Korea, have been observed among the psychiatric disorders of the present conflict. It would seem that combat psychiatric casualties, which were a numerous and vexing problem in previous US wars of this century, either have been markedly diminished by preventive measures, such as the one-year rotation policy for combat personnel, or perhaps are not produced in large numbers by the brief, episodic nature of the fighting in Viet Nam.