Industrial Mental Health in Britain

Up to the second world war, the industrial medical services in this country had paid a great deal more attention to the field of physical health and illness than to psychiatry, and much progress had certainly been made. Various occupational diseases had been discovered and some diminished, either by better conditions of work, by eliminating dangers, by better selection of work, or by earlier detection of illness. It is a paradox that the real success achieved has tended to keep the attention of many managers and industrial doctors focused on physical matters and so has made them less aware of the psychological problems that have always existed, and apparently are now increasing. It may well be that the latter are easier to study where industrial physical medicine is less advanced. It is remarkable that in 1007 pages of a comprehensive text book on "The Diseases of Occupations", for instance, by Dr. D. Hunter, neurosis is only mentioned on seven pages; though the same author's "Pelican" book, "Health in Industry"?which will no doubt be widely read?devotes a page to neurosis and goes on to discuss human relations and morale. Credit must, however, go to various organisations who introduced intelligence and aptitude tests into certain industries before the war. Their results were often of great practical value in developing the system of personnel selection, which was provided for every recruit from 1942 onwards. The stresses of war on soldier and civilian alike were soon seen