Let There Be Light Reel 1 (1945)

e w [Music] the guns are quiet now the the papers of Peace have been signed and the oceans of the Earth are filled with Ships coming home in Far Away places men dreamed of this moment but for some men the moment is very different from the [Music] dream here is human Salvage a final result of all that metal and fire can do to violate mortal flesh [Music] somewhere the badges of their pain the crutches the bandages the splints others show no outward signs yet they too are wounded this hospital is one of the many for the care and treatment of the psychon neurotic Soldier [Music] these are the casualties of the spirit the troubled in mind men who are damaged emotionally born and bred in peace educated to hate War they were over night plunged into sudden and terrible situations every man has his breaking point and these in the Fulfillment of their duties as soldiers were forced beyond the limit of human Endurance on behalf of the commanding officer and his staff of Mason General Hospital I want to extend a hearty welcome to all of you on your return to the United States there's no need to be alarmed at the presence of these cameras as they making a photographic record of your progress at this Hospital from the date of admission to the date of discharge here are men who tremble men who cannot sleep men with pains that are nonetheless real because they are of mental origin men who cannot remember paralyzed men whose paralysis is dictated by the Mind however different the symptoms these things they have in common unceasing fear and apprehension a sense of impending disaster a feeling of hopelessness and utter isolation may I have your last name [Music] the psychiatrists listen to the stories of the men who tell them as best they can the names and places are different the circumstances are different but through all the stories runs one thread death and the fear of death and then after you got wounded what happened same things only worse I can nerv keep getting worse on they get worse these ner things they B yeah I got killed nearly morning you near got killed where were you at the time St l somewh [Music] what were you what were you doing when the planes came over I was in a hole you know where you are I think I'm in the state now they told me I coming back but they told me I was going to die in the hospital I wouldn't eat hard six no need to me going to die but didn't E help told me care where I not see if you don't die you won't die I lost my nice buddy up there little Norman he was second scouting I was first Scout it was all mixed upu up there they were showing us and what did that make you nervous I I should have been first I'm first Scout and I should have been out in front and he went out and I started to go out after him and he got shot and he he he just said oh DCH him hit me craw my feet and and I started calling for the medic and I went back to see if I get the medic and I wasn't any and I starting to go out after him again and they wouldn't let me go and he was the last one in the original boys that was with me him and I were the last two left out of the original and when you were sheld how did you feel I don't know it's just after Norman got got hurt killed by I was all right when we were moving up or attacking or anything like that when we get pinned down I start thinking about him laying back there and then what happened to you when you think about him how would you feel I didn't just didn't care what happened to me do you mean you didn't want to go back into combat again yes I wanted to go back I wanted to stay there I wanted to keep mind for him and all them other guys know John and Striker and Tex and Popp and how do you feel right now I feel all right have you been getting home well fairly well sir mhm you overseas yes sir where uh we were in France and then we went to Germany and where France to Germany and what uh outfit were you with I was with headquarters Detachment 50th quarterb Battalion mobile I see your PFC at present sir uh you had to go in the hospital sir you had to go in the hospital twice sir it says here on your record from overseas that you had hitches and that you had crime spell yes sir uh I believe in your profession it's called Nostalgia other words hom sickness yes sir mhm it was induced when shortly before the War I received a picture of my sweetheart yeah I'm sorry I can't that's all right yes sir uh come on and sit down a minute now a display of emotion is all right I'm not doing this deliberately so please believe me not I I do believe you um a display of emotion is sometimes very helpful I hope so sir sure it gets it off the chest you wouldn't uh you wouldn't be here you wouldn't have been returned uh there's a patient there wasn't something upsetting you yes now you say you had had received a letter from your not a letter sir a photograph a photograph yes what what what about that now well sir to be perfectly honest with you I'm very much in love with my sweetheart she has been the one person that gave me a sense of importance in that through her cooperation with me we were able to surmount so many obstacles what happened well when I was in combat men can you speak louder I I have trouble hearing you uh during the time I got worried that my brother he was killed on a canal oh was the a marine yes now I noticed in this uh history here that you saw a vision of your brother what uh tell me something about that what what happened oh I I guess it was a dream or something well Describe the dream what what did you see in the dream I I Jun that I was home my brother was home my other brother was home we all home all of you were home sitting around the table every thought he was happy we were laugh and you know talking just admiring each other's and then it ended there you could see these images clearly yeah it was like in a dream see yeah uh what about this V thing you're telling me about well I in men after I got that m i i i was I ADM I was scared you weren't scared I I don't know I sometimes I I hope something would happen then again I say well something did happen what do you mean by something happened you mean you were hoping that you'd be wounded and sent back is that what you mean no what do you mean by that I meant that I I hope that just you know always like disgusted and tired of everything I just didn't feel like living and then I change my mind and I think back my folks and it be a double blow if something happened to me and I'll be standing got sitting on it she I man watching and I I'd hear a long noise and I left go shoot wasn't nothing problem with and animals any noise made you upside and you just shoot at that time yes do you feel worried about anything now uh I I don't know are you mixed up kind of what's that pen on your shirt to my heart why do you cover those up aren't you proud of them yes sir you got a Purple Heart The Campaign ribbons yes sir why you cover them up you never must be some reason for you doing that what happened over there we got in the scrape and I was in the house just got off for guard his fr 13th and sweating it out all day Patrol came up ger Patrol and they shot a uh pan of f through the wall and what uh I I was laying on a couch and right before it happen I little je I lay down on the floor and when I when I got up again the couch was all torn in other words you were almost killed is that it u i no almost almost gone right over my head do you feel conscious is are you aware of the fact that you are not the same boy that you were when you went over do you feel changed yes in what way uh more chumpy how about people I used to I used to always like to have fun now I used to always be going places I don't like to do nothing no more how long are you overseas 11 months 11 months were you in any combat at all 6 months I tried uh every every way to keep my mind occupied reading uh going to the gymnasium getting uh going out with the fellas and trying to try to become an extra try to get out of myself but uh sa to me I got worse and worse and uh after a while I I developed the after the fear of s I started develop fears of different sorts did you ever have similar pains before you got never in my life have you ever been nervous before in your life no sir never I was a solid man the sudden noises bother you particularly I just shake over a little bad well I guess I just got tired loving you put that way I had trouble sleeping yes had dreaming of combat you know I just took off because I I seen too many my my buddies gone and and I figure the next one was for me a man can just stand so much up there admission note transfer diagnosis anxiety reaction severe active symptoms in remission on this their first night back in the States each man who is able may make a longdistance call without cost after months and years of Silence familiar voices are heard once [Music] again then each man makes for himself a small home which will be his for the eight or 10 weeks to come now in the darkness of the ward emerg the shapes born of Darkness the terror of things half remembered dreams of battle the torments of uncertainty and fear and loneliness [Music] the day begins with an early morning Ward inspection the medical officer in charge checks the condition of every man modern Psychiatry makes no sharp division between the mind and the body physical ills often have psychic causes just as emotional ills may have a physical basis possibilities of organic disturbance in the brain are investigated by means of the electroen sephra the roar shock test the things that the patient's imagination sees in these cards give significant Clues to his personality [Music] makeup this looks sort of like a drawing of two women standing on a rock and waving their [Music] hands this man suffering from a conversion hysteria requires immediate treatment organically sound his paralysis is as real as if it were caused by a SP lesion but it is purely psychological well just H him up about the middle of the bed there feel pretty good that's fine now sit yourself over [Applause] there well now can you move over just a little so I can talk to you yes now what is the trouble you think be what's that that's nose no I gu make me flch like I say how long's that been going on since Friday Friday Friday night come on suddenly or gradually suddenly sir how when I start in the afternoon with client spells and uh saw something funny in my shoulders here back bother me I started crying was control my legs in my arms was there any reason for crying spelled I don't know sir anything happened at home to bother you well my mother's been ill she has been ill that worry you a lot quite a bit well now uh does this got anything to do with your mother's illness any reason why you should have that kind of reaction no sir not that I know of unless my mother's illness might have brought this on I tried to hold about hurts but I see you've just been holding these things in that's right sir no way you can control this at all no sir well now we're going to have to help you do that of course let's take off this jacket here just slip that off all right now lie down on the bed shoes right now we leave the shoes on so you can walk in them I think we going to get you walking let's come over here that's the boy that's fine that's good now you li steady I steady that's the boy this is all going to go away as I give you this medicine no bother at all the method employed here is effective in certain types of acute cases an intravenous injection of sod amatol induces a state similar to hypnosis what that is you mind if I look this way you look that way there nothing for you to watch here but you're going to talk to me as we go along yes sir that's all now you're not going to feel much of anything else you're going to feel a little bit woozy the use of this drug serves a two-fold purpose like hypnosis it is a shortcut to the unconscious mind as a the surgeon probes for a bullet the psychiatrist explores the submerged regions of the Mind attempting to locate and bring to the surface the emotional conflict which is the cause of the patient's distress the second purpose of this drug is to remove through suggestion those symptoms which impede the patient's recovery now tell me a little bit about what you're thinking of the thoughts are coming to your mind now that's very particular well now let's go back let's go back to Friday F yeah I'll think about that F my mother argues with me your mother argues with you yeah M what does she argue about well every little thing if you sit down in a wrong chair or something like that doesn't like the stuff you get in the store uhhuh and she Cals down see have you always tried to please her yes always tried to pleas her used to clean her house for her I was a small well now why do you think she Ares like that she s well she doesn't try to control a temper I see mhm how about your father he's a SW guy he a SW fell get kind of hot temped since my mother's been sick it's been costing a lot of money mhm and he's lost a lot of weight about worrying I see my argu is with him she wants to know where the money is MHM but I don't care about that long everything turns out right well now uh this jumping what does that make you think of think about it a minute I can't help but it just jumps uhhuh how about the legs do you know anybody had any trouble with their legs like that no sir make you think of go on except several several years ago uhhuh there was one fell he had something wrong with his right leg M Waring the knee but he's walking today that hasn't bothered me out was that anything like your leg I don't know he couldn't walk at all he couldn't walk at all no what do you think of when you can't walk like that I wish check a walk mhm but what do you think of what comes to your mind when you find that you can't walk maybe I think my mom and father should be okay sometimes I want to hope the war in soon things like that nothing in particular mhm now the shakes are G now haven't they yeah how about your legs they're good and strong I feel all right move them let's raise them oh I don't say rais them before but I can't walk how about them now they feel all right they feel good now as if you can walk in them don't they toast feel now toes to your M but that's going way isn't it yeah jeez raising him fine isn't it yeah now you're going to be able to walk aren't you I don't know well you're going to aren't you yes sir all right little walk I like walking you love walking I always been very fond of walking now you found yourself unable to walk now you're going to get right up and walk right now all right now let's sit up sit up on the side of the bed here you are that's fine all right now stand up and look at that is that good all right now walk out here walk over to the nurse all by yourself that's the boy walk over to the nurse you're just a little woozy that's the medicine now come back to me come back to me open your eyes that's the boy did that fine isn't that wonderful sure all right now again once more yeah but how long going to be oh it's going to stay that way it's going to stay because that's taking care of you worry now all right now come on back to me and I'm going to let you go to sleep when you wake up you'll keep on walking perfectly well how about it thanks sir right all right now let's get up in here and we'll go to sleep now there you are now I'm going to have you go right to sleep when you wake up it'll be all right thanks all right sleep the fact that he can walk Now does not mean that his Neurosis has been cured that will require time but the way has been open for the therapy to [Music] follow now a new way of living begins very different from the old one whose purpose was killing and trying not to be killed now in an environment of peace and safety all the violence behind them they are building rather than destroying men have their choice of Occupational Therapy some find relaxation in mechanical jobs certain types of cases obtain relief in Precision work which answers their inner need for order and certainty for sons and daughters and nieces and nephews and neighbors kids hobby horses are turned out by the Carlo physical reconditioning is not the only purpose in sports which also serve to bring men out of their emotional isolation and back into group AC ity one of the most important procedures is group Psychotherapy here under the psychiatrist's guidance the patient learns to understand something of the basic causes of his distress as one of a group he also learns to understand that his inner conflicts are with variations common to all men and I think of it a little bit like this we want to get you out of your own feeling of isolation to get you to feel that you are like other people in order to get to that we have to use knowledge as one thing and something else which uh has to be added that is an experience of safety you could say it is almost the core of all our treatment methods development of knowledge of oneself with the accomp safety that brings I'd like to see if we can get some illustrations of how one's personal safety would stem from childhood safety and how the childhood safety self would stem from the parents safety um and my illustration is that as a child um whenever I I under what any experiences that were frightening to me I never told my parents I kept the myself while I was alone at night in my room I call on God if I had done anything wrong I was ashamed of I was ashamed to go to my parents and tell them uh what I had done so I kept it to myself and I used to I know I used to be in constant fear that my parents would find out my feelings well I wonder if there's any of your mother's troubles that you would know about no I'm uh my mother never uh gave any of the children any any part of her troubles well that would be the same thing that happened to you she didn't tell her troubles and you didn't tell yours you took your troubles to God and she probably did the same thing probably didn't even confide in your father in other words the kind of method that you use to get relief from anxiety was really we'd have to assume learned and felt right in your home the same kind of thing I think was all caused by uh economic conditions of the world I mean uh people try to comp uh compete one another trying to get a better job trying to keep up with uh Uprising living things like that have caused a lot of arguments in the home mother and father arguing about the price of the food and that has reflection on the children things like that so I think that was one of the wor not having enough food to eat or the arguments between the I mean there was which was the worse though I just AR sure they of course they AR CU I can't remember about the food there you are you can't even remember about the food or the lack of food I have in mind my own childhood we're uh coming from a moderate family moderate in the sense that uh the family had some sense of security what happened there was we were told that uh we I mean my myself my brothers and sisters we couldn't just play with any of the kids we wanted to play with uh unless their parents in turn had the equivalent of what our parents had and as a result we were kept in a narrow Circle very very narrow however uh I have found that there has been a strong yearning on my part to break out of this environment to be able to uh play with t that can have I'd say the net results like this your mother did not feel really so Superior she felt inferior when she tried to make you take the attitude you were better than the other children so that now in certain experiences in the Army have brought that out more clearly because you've been thrown in with Tom and Nick and Harry and need to get along with them it's not necessary to be in the Army it's not necessary to to be in the war these kind of troubles have always gone on in all time through all the centuries you were going to say something I never spoke until I was seven is that right yes and I studied very bad at 14 and 15 I couldn't recite in school today I to talk can you explain how you get started to talk how you began to get over with that uh during during the war the first word I ever spoke um Santa Claus had brought me a a wal gun and my brother broke it this the first are yes and your brother broke when I went to get my gun I was I just says W death somebody broke my gun that's the first thing I said you were angry because someone broke your gun that's way I start I would say all those symptoms like being unable to speak stuttering so on they have an underlying anger and resentment in the deeper part of the personality you could almost say like this underneath I can't you usually find I won't ke on OK I was to about 3 weeks and as soon as I came here I here a month now I stopped studying you've stopped studying completely since you came here that's good I don't know whe that's a tribute to the doctors or a tribute to your fundamental Health to my fundamental Sal no no tribute to the doctors at all okay good