PART THREE

POST-WAR PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES : SHORT-TERM
RECOmiENDATIONS

CHAFTEE XVI
THE POST-WAB TRANSITIONAL PERIOD

IK Part II of tliis report an attempt has been made to review the
needs, and to outline a possible structure, of the post-war psychiatric
services of this country. Various long-term considerations and sug-
gestions were put forward.

In Chapter VI it was suggested that, to produce better psychiatric
services, four needs required to be met in the following order of priority :
good psychiatrists in sufficient numbers ; good all-round training for
psychiatrists and mental nurses ; adequate accessory services ; and,
lastly, good buildings and material facilities. First priority is given
to the recruitment, selection and training of the essential personnel.
It was further remarked that good psychiatrists cannot be produced
at a moment's notice. Men and women who will have benefited from
the training provided by the revised psychiatric curriculum now
under discussion will not be entering the field for another five years.
Interim arrangements, especially affecting post-graduate training,
will be called for during the difficult * transitional' period which will
follow the beginnings of peace and of demobilization. Other specialities
are in the same predicament. The comprehensive and free services
which have been promised call for an appropriate distribution of
specialists and consultants in areas where these are now too few. The
main problem everywhere is a shortage of adequate personnel. This
difficulty cannot be remedied overnight. It will take one or even two
five-year plans to establish a comprehensive mental health service on
a permanent footing.

The * transitional * period which must intervene will have dis-
tinctive features which derive from the war and its aftermath. What,
from the psychiatric standpoint, will be the needs of this period ?
These can be briefly dealt with because the essential ground has already
been covered.

1. Needs of * Transitional' Period.

Among these needs will be the following :

(1) That means be found for dealing with the awkward current
problems of the period, which may suddenly become clamorous.
The discharge from the Forces of neurotic and psychopathic
men has been proceeding continuously since the war began,
We do not yet know what measure of demobilization wiu be

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