PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF AIR RAIDS

Abstract

THE experiences of war through which Great Britain is passing pose many psychological problems of urgent practical importance. Knowledge has been gained in many directions which can now be put to practical use. Detailed studies of evacuation, such as the Cambridge Evacuation Survey, the findings of which have recently been published*, enable us to assess both the general success of the evacuation policy and the particular steps which must be taken to avoid failure in special cases. The problems of shelter life have been studied by medical men, by psychiatrists, by shelter lecturers, and by psychologists who have lived in shelters because they have been bombed out of their homes, and it is now possible to gainsome idea of the intricate social psychological problems of shelter life. The effects on morale of air–raid experiences have been studied both by academic psychologists and by mass observation, and it is to be hoped that their findings may be made use of by those Government departments responsible for civil morale. These problems were considered at a discussion of the problems of air–raid shelters, evacuation and the effects of air raids at a general meeting of the British Psychological Society on July 26.