Psychiatric Screening Documents

Psychiatric Screening Documents

In the summer of 1917, Adolf Meyer became involved in a new war-related initiative: psychiatric screening. Thomas Salmon had succeeded in convincing the US Army to screen recruits to exclude from the military those who might be most susceptible to nervous breakdown: “insane, feeble-minded, psychopathic and neuropathic individuals.” The idea was to curtail the problem of war neuroses through prevention – not just treatment. Meyer took on different roles in Salmon’s program. He advised on the test’s content, trained examiners and inspected the work at domestic camps. These documents reflect all three aspects of that work.

Document 1: A Sample Screening Test. (Adolf Meyer Collection)

Document 2: Instructions to Examiners in Neurology and Psychiatry Relative to the Preparation of Statistical Data. (Adolf Meyer Collection)

Document 3: Map of training camps for psychiatric screening of troops (Adolf Meyer Collection). This map would have provided Meyer and his fellow inspectors an overview of facilities where screening was taking place.

Document 4: A student’s handwritten report of his brief training at the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic (Adolf Meyer Collection, Report from Dr. Stevenly to Adolf Meyer). The leaders of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene (NCMH) reached out to Meyer to provide a short course for the personnel recruited to examine troops. Other training centers included the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, the Manhattan State Hospital, the State Psychopathic Hospital (in Ann Arbor), and the New York Neurological Institute.

Document 1: [Name redacted]
Document 2: Bailey, Pearce
Document 3: National Committee for Mental Hygiene
Document 4: Stevenly

1917-1918

Document 1: 1 leaf ; 11 x 8.5 in.
Document 2: 8 leaves ; 12.5 x 8 in.
Document 3: 1 map ; 21 x13.5 in.
Document 4: 2 leaves ; 11 x 9 in.

Document 1: Item 238654
Document 2: Item 238632
Document 3: Item 238629
Document 4: Item 238620