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Published Online: January 1947

MENTAL ILLNESS AMONG NEGRO TROOPS OVERSEAS

HERBERT S. RIPLEY and STEWART WOLFAuthors Info & Affiliations

Publication: American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 103, Number 4

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.103.4.499

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Abstract

Data were obtained on the incidence of mental illnesses in Negro troops stationed on an isolated island in the Southwest Pacific and comparisons made with similarly situated white troops.

1. The incidence of psychoneuroses and psychoses was found to be appreciably higher among Negro than among white troops.

2. The Negro appeared less well equipped by virtue of emotional and intellectual resources to adjust to war zone conditions of bodily hazard and isolation from women.

3. The rigors of military discipline, long working hours, and necessarily meager facilities for entertainment in the war zone acted to enhance already existent feelings of maltreatment and racial discrimination among Negroes.

4. Screening out by the induction centers of those unfit for military service because of mental and emotional defects seemed to have been less painstakingly performed among Negroes than among white men and this may have been a factor in the high incidence of psychiatric illness.

5. In many instances the officers were unsuitable to lead Negro troops.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

American Journal of Psychiatry

Volume 103 • Number 4 • January 1947

Pages: 499 - 512

PubMed: 20287564

History

Published in print: January 1947

Published online: 1 April 2006

Authors

Details

HERBERT S. RIPLEY

The 9th General Hospital, United States Army, and the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry of The New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College.

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STEWART WOLF

The 9th General Hospital, United States Army, and the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry of The New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College.

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MENTAL ILLNESS AMONG NEGRO TROOPS OVERSEAS

Abstract

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