TV-G | 57 minutes | Documentary | 1946
Commissioned, then suppressed, by the U.S. government, this 1946 film follows veterans treated for trauma. Intended to educate the public about post-traumatic stress disorder and its treatment among returning veterans, the film's unscripted presentation of mental disability led to Let There Be Light being suppressed by the U.S. government; it was not released until the 1980s.
Director: John Huston
Stars: Walter Huston
Commissioned, then suppressed, by the U.S. government, this 1946 film follows veterans treated for trauma. Intended to educate the public about post-traumatic stress disorder and its treatment among returning veterans, the film's unscripted presentation of mental disability led to Let There Be Light being suppressed by the U.S. government; it was not released until the 1980s.
Director: John Huston
Stars: Walter Huston
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
00:30["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
00:55The guns are quiet now.
00:57The papers of peace have been signed.
01:00And the oceans of the earth are filled with ships coming home.
01:04In faraway places, men dreamed of this moment.
01:08But for some men, the moment is very different from the dream.
01:12["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
01:18Here is human salvage.
01:21The final result of all that metal and fire can do to violate mortal flesh.
01:26["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
01:32Some wear the badges of their pain.
01:34The crutches, the bandages, the splints.
01:39Others show no outward signs.
01:42Yet they too are wounded.
01:44["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
01:48This hospital is one of the many for the care and treatment of the psychoneurotic soldier.
01:54["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
02:14These are the casualties of the spirit.
02:17The troubled in mind.
02:19Men who are damaged emotionally.
02:22Born and bred in peace.
02:24Educated to hate war.
02:26They were overnight plunged into sudden and terrible situations.
02:31Every man has his breaking point.
02:34And these, in the fulfillment of their duties as soldiers,
02:37were forced beyond the limit of human endurance.
02:42At ease, men.
02:44On behalf of the commanding officer and his staff of Mason General Hospital,
02:49I want to extend a hearty welcome to all of you when you return to the United States.
02:53There's no need to be alarmed at the presence of these cameras
02:57as they're making a photographic record of your progress at this hospital
03:03from the date of admission to the date of discharge.
03:06Here are men who tremble.
03:09Men who cannot sleep.
03:11Men with pains that are nonetheless real because they are of mental origin.
03:16Men who cannot remember.
03:18Paralyzed men whose paralysis is dictated by the mind.
03:23However different the symptoms, these things they have in common.
03:27Unceasing fear and apprehension.
03:30A sense of impending disaster.
03:33A feeling of hopelessness and utter isolation.
03:37♪♪
03:47May I have your last name?
03:49How do you spell that?
03:52May I have your last name, please?
03:55How do you spell that?
03:57♪♪
04:05The psychiatrists listen to the stories of the men
04:08and tell them as best they can.
04:11The names and places are different.
04:13The circumstances are different.
04:16But through all the stories runs one thread,
04:19death and the fear of death.
04:25And then after you got wounded, what happened?
04:28Same thing, only worse?
04:32Um...
04:34I can never keep you in one song.
04:37They get worse.
04:39These airplanes, they...
04:41bombed.
04:43I got killed nearly this morning.
04:47You nearly got killed?
04:49Where were you at the time?
04:51St. Louis, I believe.
04:53St. Louis, I believe.
04:59What were you doing when the planes came over?
05:03I was in a hole.
05:08Do you know where you are?
05:10I don't know.
05:12I think I'm in the States now.
05:13They told me I was coming back.
05:15But they told me I was going to die.
05:18In the hospital, I wouldn't eat hardly.
05:21They told me I was sick.
05:24I wouldn't eat hardly, they told me.
05:28I was going to die, but they didn't help me.
05:31They told me they didn't care where I died.
05:34We will see that you don't die.
05:36You won't die.
05:38I lost my last buddy up there.
05:51Little Norman, he was second scout.
05:53I was first scout.
05:55They were all mixed up up there.
05:58They were shelling us.
05:59Did that make you nervous?
06:01I should have been first scout.
06:03I'm first scout, and I should have been out in front.
06:05He went out, and I started to go out after him.
06:07He got shot.
06:10He said, oh, Dutch, I'm hit.
06:13He crawled to my feet.
06:16I started calling for the medic.
06:19I went back to see if we could get the medic.
06:21There wasn't any.
06:22I started to go out after him again.
06:24They wouldn't let me go.
06:26He was the last one of the original boys that was with me.
06:31Him and I were the last two left out of the original.
06:36When you were shelled, how did you feel?
06:39I don't know.
06:41After Norman got killed, I was all right when we were moving up or attacking or anything like that.
06:49When we got pinned down, I started thinking about him laying back there.
06:53What happened to you when you think about him?
06:55How would you feel?
06:56I just didn't care what happened to me.
06:59Do you mean you didn't want to go back into combat again?
07:04Yes, sir.
07:05I wanted to go back.
07:06I wanted to stay there.
07:07I wanted to keep on for him and all them other guys.
07:12John, the striker, Tex, Hopper.
07:16How do you feel right now?
07:18I feel all right.
07:23How have you been getting along?
07:25Well, fairly well, sir.
07:27You were overseas?
07:28Yes, sir.
07:29Where?
07:31We were in France and then we went to Germany.
07:34To where?
07:35France, to Germany.
07:36And what outfit were you in?
07:39I was with headquarters detachment, 50th quarter mass hospitality mobile.
07:43I see you're PFC.
07:45At present, sir.
07:47You went ahead to go in the hospital.
07:49Sir?
07:50You had to go in the hospital.
07:51Twice, sir.
07:52It says here on your record from overseas that you had headaches and that you had crying spells.
07:57Yes, sir.
07:58I believe that your profession is called nostalgia.
08:02In other words, homesickness.
08:03Yes, sir.
08:04It was induced when shortly before the war.
08:09I received a picture of my sweetheart.
08:12Yes.
08:24I'm sorry.
08:25I can't continue.
08:26That's all right.
08:27Rickard.
08:28Rickard.
08:29Yes, sir.
08:30Come on and sit down a minute.
08:33Now, a display of emotion is all right.
08:38I'm not doing this deliberately, sir.
08:40Please believe me.
08:41I do believe you.
08:44A display of emotion is sometimes very helpful.
08:48I hope so, sir.
08:49Sure, it gets it off your chest.
08:51You wouldn't be here.
08:53You wouldn't have been returned.
08:56As a patient, there wasn't something upsetting you?
09:00No, sir.
09:02Now, you say you had received a letter from your...
09:05Not a letter, sir.
09:06A photograph.
09:07A photograph, yes.
09:08Well, what about that now?
09:11Well, sir, to be perfectly honest with you, I'm very much in love with my sweetheart.
09:18She has been the one person that gave me a sense of importance.
09:25And through that, through her cooperation with me, we were able to surmount so many obstacles.
09:35What happened?
09:37Well, when I was in combat, Mendenhall...
09:40Can you speak louder?
09:41Yes, I'm hearing you.
09:44During the time, I got worried that my brother, he was killed in a water canal.
09:54Oh, was he a Marine?
09:55Yes.
09:56Now, I notice in this history here that you saw a vision of your brother.
10:03Tell me something about that.
10:05What happened?
10:08I guess it was a dream.
10:11Well, describe the dream.
10:12What did you see in the dream?
10:14I dreamt that I was home.
10:17My brother was home.
10:19My other brother was home.
10:20We were all home.
10:21All of you were home?
10:22Sitting around the table.
10:23Everybody was happy.
10:25We were laughing, you know, talking, just admiring each other.
10:34And then it ended there.
10:36You could see these images clearly.
10:38Yeah, it was like in a dream, see?
10:40Yeah.
10:41What about this Mendenhall thing you're telling me about?
10:45Well, in Mendenhall, after I got that news, I admit I was scared.
10:51You were scared?
10:52I don't know.
10:53Sometimes I hope something would happen.
10:56Then again, I say, well, something did happen.
10:59What do you mean by something happened?
11:00Do you mean you were hoping that you'd be wounded and sent back?
11:02Is that what you mean?
11:03No.
11:04What do you mean by that?
11:05I meant that I hoped that just, you know, I was so disgusted and tired of everything.
11:11I just didn't feel like living.
11:13And then I changed my mind and I think back to my folks.
11:18It'd be a double blow if something happened to me.
11:21I'd be standing guard sitting on a machine gun, you know, just watching.
11:26And I'd hear a little noise and I'd let go and shoot.
11:30It wasn't nothing.
11:31It probably was an animal or something.
11:33Any noise made you upset and you'd just shoot?
11:35At that time, yes.
11:39Do you feel worried about anything now?
11:41I don't know.
11:44Are you mixed up?
11:45Kind of.
11:47What's that pin on your shirt?
11:51My heart.
11:53Why do you cover those up?
11:56Aren't you proud of them?
11:57Yes, sir.
11:59You got a purple heart?
12:01And campaign ribbons?
12:02Yes, sir.
12:03Why do you cover them up?
12:05There must be some reason for you doing that.
12:10What happened over there?
12:13We got in a scrape.
12:19I was in the house there.
12:23Just got off the guard duty.
12:26It was Friday the 13th and I was sweating it out all day.
12:30Patrol came up, the German patrol.
12:33They shot a Panzerfaust through a wall.
12:41In what?
12:47I was laying on a couch and right before it happened,
12:50I felt a little jittery, so I laid down on the floor.
12:56When I got up again, the couch was all torn.
13:00In other words, you were almost killed.
13:02Was that it?
13:04It must have gone right over my head.
13:08Do you feel conscious?
13:09Are you aware of the fact that you are not the same boy that you were when you went over?
13:14Do you feel changed?
13:16Yes, sir.
13:18In what way?
13:23More jumpy.
13:26How about with people?
13:30I used to always like to have fun.
13:36I used to always be going places.
13:43How long were you overseas?
13:50Eleven months.
13:51Were you in any combat at all?
13:58I tried every way to keep my mind occupied, reading, going to the gymnasium,
14:05going out with fellows and trying to become an extrovert, trying to get out of myself.
14:12But it seemed to me that I got worse and worse.
14:16After a while, I developed, after the fear of suicide, I started developing fears of different sorts.
14:24Did you ever have similar pains before you got married?
14:27Never in my life.
14:29Have you ever been nervous before you got married?
14:31No, sir. Never. I was a solid man.
14:34Did sudden noises bother you particularly?
14:36I had to just shake over a little, but not bad.
14:42Well, I guess I just got tired of living, you can put it that way.
14:47I had trouble sleeping, yes. Had a dreaming of combat, you know.
14:52I just took off because I seen too many of my buddies gone and I figured the next one was for me.
14:59A man can just stand so much up there, you see.
15:03Admission note. Pool. P-O-O-L-E. Comma. Walter. L. T-5. Transfer diagnosis.
15:14Anxiety reaction. Severe. Active symptoms. In remission.
15:26On this their first night back in the States, each man who is able may make a long distance call without cost.
15:36After months and years of silence, familiar voices are heard once again.
15:49Then each man makes for himself a small home which will be his for the eight or ten weeks to come.
16:14Now in the darkness of the ward emerge the shapes born of darkness.
16:19The terror of things half remembered.
16:22Dreams of battle. The torment of uncertainty and fear and loneliness.
16:50The night begins with an early morning ward inspection.
16:53The medical officer in charge checks the condition of every man.
16:59Modern psychiatry makes no sharp division between the mind and the body.
17:04Physical ills often have psychic causes just as emotional ills may have a physical basis.
17:12The possibilities of organic disturbance in the brain are investigated by means of the electroencephalograph.
17:21The Rorschach test. The things that the patient's imagination sees in these cards give significant clues to his personality makeup.
17:34This looks sort of like a drawing of two women standing on a rock and waving their hands.
17:54This man suffering from a conversion hysteria requires immediate treatment.
17:59Organically sound, his paralysis is as real as if it were caused by a spinal lesion, but it is purely psychological.
18:08Well, just set him up about the middle of the bed there.
18:13Feeling pretty good, huh?
18:15That's fine. Now sit yourself over there.
18:25Now, now, can you move over just a little so I can talk to you?
18:28Yes, sir.
18:29Now what is the trouble?
18:31What's that?
18:32That's the nose.
18:33Nose?
18:34Yes, they make me flinch like that.
18:35I see. How long has that been going on?
18:36Since Friday, Saturday night.
18:38Friday. Come on suddenly or gradually?
18:40Suddenly, sir.
18:41How?
18:42Well, I started in the afternoon with crying spells.
18:45And I felt something funny in my shoulders here. Back bothered me.
18:50I started crying and lost control of my legs and my arms.
18:52Was there any reason for crying spells?
18:54I don't know, sir.
18:56Anything happen at home to bother you?
18:58Well, my mother's been ill.
18:59She has been ill. Does that worry you a lot?
19:02Quite a bit.
19:03Well, now, has this got anything to do with your mother's illness?
19:06Any reason why you should have that kind of reaction?
19:08No, sir. Not that I know of.
19:10Unless my mother's illness might have brought this on.
19:12I tried to hold it, but it hurts.
19:13I see. You've just been holding these things in.
19:16That's right, sir.
19:17No way you can control this at all?
19:19No, sir.
19:21Well, now we're going to have to help you do that, of course.
19:24Let's take off this jacket here.
19:29Just slip that off.
19:32All right. Now, lie down on the bed.
19:36Now we leave the shoes on so he can walk in them.
19:39I think we're going to get you walking.
19:40Let's come over here. That's the boy.
19:42That's fine.
19:45That's good. Now you lie steady.
19:47Lie steady. That's the boy.
19:49This is all going to go away as I give you this medicine.
19:53You'll be no bother at all.
19:57The method employed here is effective in certain types of acute cases.
20:02An intravenous injection of sodium amytal induces a state similar to hypnosis.
20:11Water to appeal letters.
20:13You mind if I look this way?
20:15You look that way. There's nothing for you to watch here,
20:17but you're going to talk to me as we go along.
20:20Yes, sir.
20:21That's all. Now you're not going to feel much of anything else.
20:24You're going to feel a little bit woozy.
20:26The use of this drug serves a twofold purpose.
20:29Like hypnosis, it is a shortcut to the unconscious mind.
20:33As a surgeon probes for a bullet,
20:35the psychiatrist explores the submerged regions of the mind,
20:39attempting to locate and bring to the surface the emotional conflict
20:43which is the cause of the patient's distress.
20:46The second purpose of this drug is to remove, through suggestion,
20:50those symptoms which impede the patient's recovery.
20:54Now tell me a little bit about what you're thinking of.
20:58The thoughts are coming to your mind now.
21:00Nothing in particular.
21:01Well, now let's go back. Let's go back to Friday.
21:04Friday?
21:05Yeah, think about that.
21:06Friday.
21:08My mother argues with me.
21:10Your mother argues with you?
21:11Yeah.
21:12Mm-hmm.
21:13What does she argue about?
21:15Oh, every little thing.
21:16If you sit down in an old chair or something like that.
21:19Doesn't like the stuff you get in the store.
21:21Mm-hmm.
21:22Then she calms down.
21:23Oh, I see. Have you always tried to please her?
21:25Yes.
21:26Mm-hmm. Always tried to please her.
21:28I used to clean her house for her when I was a small boy.
21:30Well, now why do you think she argues like that?
21:32Because she's sick?
21:34Well, she doesn't try to control her temper like you do.
21:37I see.
21:38Mm-hmm.
21:39How about your father?
21:40He's a swell guy.
21:41He's a swell fellow, isn't he?
21:43Gets kind of hot-tempered.
21:45Since my mother's been sick, it's been costing a lot of money.
21:48Mm-hmm.
21:49And he's lost a lot of weight from worrying.
21:52Yeah, I see.
21:53My mother argues with him. She wants to know where the money is.
21:56Mm-hmm.
21:57But I don't care about that as long as everything turns out all right.
22:00Well, now, with this jumping, what does that make you think of?
22:03Think about it a minute.
22:05Well, I can't help it. It just jumps.
22:08Mm-hmm.
22:09How about the legs?
22:11Do you know anybody who had any trouble with their legs like that?
22:13No, sir.
22:14What does it make you think of? Go on.
22:15Except several, several years ago.
22:17Uh-huh.
22:18There was one fellow.
22:20He had something wrong with his right leg.
22:22Mm-hmm.
22:23Water in the knee, but he's walking today. That hasn't bothered me.
22:25Was that anything like your leg?
22:27I don't know. He couldn't walk at all.
22:29He couldn't walk at all?
22:30No.
22:31What do you think of when you can't walk like that?
22:33I wish I could walk.
22:34Mm-hmm.
22:35Well, what do you think of?
22:36What comes to your mind when you find that you can't walk?
22:38Maybe I think my mother and father should be okay.
22:41Sometimes I wonder if the war ends soon.
22:43Things like that.
22:45I see.
22:46Nothing in particular.
22:47Mm-hmm.
22:48Your shakes are going now, haven't they?
22:49Yeah.
22:50How about your legs? They're good and strong.
22:52I feel all right.
22:53Move them. Let's raise them.
22:54Oh, I used to be able to raise them before, but I can't walk.
22:57How about them now?
22:59They feel all right.
23:00They feel good now as if you can walk a little, don't they?
23:02Toes feel numb.
23:03Toes feel numb, but that's going away, isn't it?
23:05Yeah.
23:06See?
23:07It's raising them fine, isn't it?
23:09Yeah.
23:10Now you're going to be able to walk, aren't you?
23:12I don't know.
23:13Well, you're going to, aren't you?
23:14Yes, sir.
23:15All right.
23:16I'm going to walk.
23:18I love walking.
23:19You love walking.
23:20You've always been very fond of walking.
23:22Now you've found yourself unable to walk.
23:24Now you're going to get right up and walk.
23:26Right now.
23:29All right.
23:30Now let's sit up.
23:34Sit up on the side of the bed.
23:36Here you are.
23:37That's fine.
23:38All right.
23:39Now stand up.
23:41Now look at that.
23:42Is that good?
23:43All right.
23:44Now walk out of here.
23:45Walk over to the nurse.
23:46All by yourself.
23:47That's the boy.
23:48Walk over to the nurse.
23:49You're just a little woozy.
23:50That's the medicine.
23:51Now come back to me.
23:53Come back to me.
23:54Open your eyes.
23:55That's the boy.
23:56Is that fine?
23:57Isn't that wonderful?
23:58Sure.
23:59All right.
24:00Now again.
24:01Once more.
24:02Oh, it's going to stay that way.
24:04It's going to stay because that's taking care of your worry now.
24:07All right.
24:08Now come on back to me and I'm going to let you go to sleep.
24:10When you wake up, you'll keep on walking perfectly well.
24:13How about it?
24:14Thanks, sir.
24:15Right on.
24:17All right.
24:18Now let's get up in here and go to sleep.
24:22Now there you are.
24:23Now I'm going to have you go right to sleep.
24:25When you wake up, you'll be all right.
24:27Thanks.
24:28All right.
24:29Sleep, Geordie.
24:30The fact that he can walk now does not mean that his neurosis has been cured.
24:34That will require time, but the way has been opened for the therapy to follow.
24:40Now a new way of living begins,
24:42very different from the old one whose purpose was killing and trying not to be killed.
24:47Now in an environment of peace and safety, all the violence behind them.
24:52They are building rather than destroying.
24:55Men have their choice of occupational therapy.
24:58Some find relaxation in mechanical jobs.
25:02Certain types of cases obtain relief in precision work,
25:05which answers their inner need for order and certainty.
25:08For sons and daughters and nieces and nephews and neighbors' kids,
25:12hobby horses are turned out by the carload.
25:21Physical reconditioning is not the only purpose in sports
25:24which also serve to bring men out of their emotional isolation
25:28and back into group activity.
25:30One of the most important procedures is group psychotherapy.
25:34Here, under the psychiatrist's guidance,
25:37the patient learns to understand something of the basic causes of his distress.
25:42As one of a group, he also learns to understand
25:45that his inner conflicts are, with variations, common to all men.
25:50And I think of it a little bit like this.
25:52I'm a man.
25:53I'm a man.
25:54I'm a man.
25:55I'm a man.
25:56I'm a man.
25:57I'm a man.
25:58I think of it a little bit like this.
26:00We want to get you out of your own feeling of isolation,
26:05to get you to feel that you are like other people.
26:10In order to get to that,
26:12we have to use knowledge as one thing
26:16and something else which has to be added,
26:20and that is an experience of safety.
26:23I would say it is almost the core of all our treatment methods,
26:28development of knowledge of oneself
26:32with the accompanying safety that it brings.
26:37I'd like to see if we can get some illustrations
26:39of how one's personal safety would stem from childhood safety
26:46and how the childhood safety itself would stem from the parents' safety.
26:53In my illustration, as a child,
26:57whenever I underwent any experiences that were frightening to me,
27:00I never told my parents.
27:03I kept it to myself.
27:04While I was alone at night in my room, I'd call on God.
27:08If I had done anything wrong that I was ashamed of,
27:10I was ashamed to go to my parents and tell them what I had done.
27:15So I kept it to myself,
27:17and I know I used to be in constant fear
27:20that my parents would find out my failings.
27:23Well, I wonder if there's any of your mother's troubles that you would know about.
27:28No, my mother never gave any of the children any part of the troubles.
27:36Well, that would be the same thing that happened to you.
27:40She didn't tell her troubles, and you didn't tell yours.
27:45You took your troubles to God, and she probably did the same thing,
27:49probably didn't even confide in your father.
27:53In other words, the kind of method that you used to get relief from anxiety
27:58was really, we'd have to assume, learned and felt right in your home
28:03the same kind of thing.
28:05I think it was all caused by economic conditions of the world.
28:10I mean, people trying to compete with one another,
28:14trying to get a better job, trying to keep up with the uprising,
28:17things like that have caused a lot of arguments in the home.
28:20Mother and father arguing about the price of the food,
28:23man's reflection on the children, things like that.
28:26So I think that was one of the causes of the children's...
28:28Was it the worst, not having enough food to eat,
28:30or the arguments between them?
28:33Which was the worst, though?
28:35Well, I guess the arguments.
28:37Sure, of course they are.
28:39Because I can't remember about the food.
28:41There you are. You can't even remember about the food or the lack of food.
28:44I have in mind my own childhood.
28:46We're coming from a moderate family,
28:50moderate in the sense that the family had some sense of security.
28:55What happened there was we were told that we,
29:00myself, my brothers and sisters,
29:02we couldn't just play with any of the kids we wanted to play with
29:07unless their parents in turn had the equivalent of what our parents had.
29:13And as a result, we were kept in a narrow circle, very, very narrow.
29:18However, I have found that there has been a strong yearning on my part
29:24to break out of this environment,
29:27to be able to play with Tom Dick and Harry.
29:30I'd say the net result is like this.
29:33Your mother did not feel really so superior.
29:36She felt inferior when she tried to make you take the attitude
29:40you were better than the other children,
29:42so that now, in certain experiences in the Army,
29:45have brought that out more clearly
29:47because you've been thrown in with Tom and Dick and Harry
29:50and need to get along with them.
29:53It's not necessary to be in the Army.
29:55It's not necessary to be in the war.
29:58These kind of troubles have always gone on in all time
30:03through all the centuries.
30:05You were going to say something.
30:07I never spoke until I was seven.
30:09Is that right?
30:10Yes, and I studied very bad.
30:12At 14 or 15, I couldn't recite in school.
30:16They didn't let me talk.
30:18Can you explain how you got started to talk,
30:21how you began to get over that?
30:24During the war, the first word I ever spoke,
30:28Santa Claus had brought me a war gun,
30:32and my brother broke it.
30:34It's the First World War, yes.
30:36Santa Claus brought you a gun, and your brother broke it.
30:39When I went in to get my gun, I just said,
30:43War, death, somebody broke my gun.
30:45That was the first thing I said.
30:47You were angry because someone broke your gun.
30:49That's right.
30:50So that's when I started talking.
30:51I would say all those symptoms,
30:54like being unable to speak, stuttering, and so on,
30:58they have an underlying anger and resentment
31:02in the deeper parts of the personality.
31:05You could almost say it like this.
31:07Underneath, I can't.
31:10You usually find I won't.
31:14Kevin, on Okinawa, I was stuttering for about three weeks.
31:17As soon as I came here, a year and a month ago,
31:19I started stuttering.
31:21You've stopped stuttering completely since you came here?
31:23That's right.
31:24That's good.
31:25I don't know whether that's a tribute to the doctors
31:27or a tribute to your fundamental health.
31:29It's my fundamental soul.
31:31No, no tribute to the doctors at all.
31:33Very good.
31:37Some patients require special therapy.
31:40Hypnosis is often effective in certain types of battle neuroses,
31:44such as amnesia.
31:46This man does not even remember his own name.
31:49A shell burst in Okinawa wiped out his memory.
31:52The experience was unendurable to his conscious mind,
31:55which rejected it, and along with it, his entire past.
31:59Through hypnotic suggestion,
32:01the psychiatrist will attempt to evoke them.
32:04Relax completely, and put your mind on going to sleep.
32:08All right now, keep your eyes on mine.
32:11Keep your eyes on mine, and keep them fixed on mine.
32:14Keep your mind entirely on falling asleep.
32:16You're going to go into a deep sleep as we go in.
32:19You're going to go into a deep sleep as we go in.
32:21Now clasp your hands in front of you.
32:23Clasp them tight, tight, tight, tight, tight.
32:26They're getting tighter and tighter and tighter,
32:28and as they get tighter, you're falling asleep.
32:30As they get tighter, you're falling asleep.
32:32Your eyes are getting heavy, heavy.
32:34Now your hands are locked tight.
32:35They're locked tight.
32:36They're locked tight.
32:38You can't let go.
32:39They're locked tight.
32:40You can't let go.
32:41When I snap my fingers, you'll be able to let go.
32:43You'll be able to let go and then you'll get sleepier.
32:45Your eyes are getting heavier.
32:47Now your eyes are getting heavier,
32:48heavier,
32:49heavier.
32:50You're going into a deep, deep sleep.
32:51Going to a deep, deep sleep.
32:54Deep asleep,
32:55far asleep,
32:56eyes now closed tight,
32:58closed tight.
32:59Going to a deep, deep sleep.
33:02Deeply relaxed,
33:03far asleep.
33:05You're far asleep.
33:07You're far asleep.
33:08Now you're in a deep sleep.
33:09You have no fear,
33:11no anxiety,
33:12No fear, no anxiety.
33:14Now, you're in a deep, deep sleep.
33:16Now, just sit down in the chair behind you.
33:18Sit down in the chair behind you.
33:21Lean back.
33:24Head now falls forward into a deep, deep sleep.
33:27Head now is falling forward.
33:29You're going further and further and further asleep.
33:32Now, stroke your left arm to come rigid like a bar of steel
33:35and you'll go further asleep and further asleep.
33:38You're falling further and further and further asleep.
33:44Rigid.
33:45Cannot be bent or relaxed.
33:49When I touch the top of your head,
33:51I touch the top of your head,
33:52that arm will relax and the other will become rigid
33:54and you'll go further asleep.
33:55You'll be in a very deep sleep.
34:01And your sleep is deeper and deeper.
34:05And now, when I touch this hand, my finger will be hot.
34:10When I touch this hand, my finger will be hot.
34:12You will not be able to bear it.
34:15Your arm is rigid.
34:18And now, as I touch your hand,
34:20you will no longer feel any pain there.
34:23You'll be normal.
34:25Now, the arm is relaxed
34:26and you're further and further and further asleep.
34:29Now, you're deep asleep.
34:31We're going back.
34:34We're going back now.
34:36Going back to Okinawa.
34:39Going back to Okinawa.
34:41You can talk.
34:43You can talk, you can remember everything.
34:47You can remember everything.
34:49You're back on Okinawa.
34:51Tell me what you see.
34:53Tell me.
34:55Speak.
34:56I'm in the battery area.
34:57You're in the battery area.
35:01Go on, tell me what's going on.
35:04Getting fire emissions.
35:06You're getting fire emissions.
35:07Go on.
35:09You see everything now, clearly.
35:14Getting shells thrown at us.
35:15You're getting shells thrown at you.
35:17From where?
35:18Japs.
35:19Japs.
35:20Go on.
35:21Yes.
35:23Keep on.
35:25You remember it all now.
35:26Every bit of it's coming back.
35:28Japs getting near us to get our position.
35:31Japs getting near you to get your position.
35:33Yes.
35:34Go on.
35:37Told us to get covered.
35:40Who told you to get covered?
35:42BC.
35:43BC.
35:44Go on.
35:46His father.
35:49One of the boys got hurt.
35:51One of the boys got hurt.
35:53Took him away.
35:55Told you I know what to make of it, didn't you?
35:59Yes, go on.
36:00You remember it now.
36:02Tell me.
36:02It's all right now, but you can tell me.
36:04You can tell me.
36:07Explosion.
36:08Yes.
36:10You remember the explosion now.
36:13All right, go on.
36:16They're carrying me.
36:17They're carrying you.
36:19Who's carrying you?
36:20I don't know.
36:23Where are they taking you?
36:25They're carrying me across the field.
36:28Across the field.
36:29Go on.
36:32Put me in a stretcher.
36:34Yes.
36:38Yes, go on.
36:40They're still throwing shells.
36:43Yes.
36:44Can you hear them?
36:45Yes.
36:46You see them?
36:48No.
36:49All right, where are they taking you now?
36:52They took me.
36:53Why are you fearful now?
36:58I don't know.
37:00You don't want anymore.
37:02You want to forget it.
37:03But you're gonna remember it because it's gone now.
37:07It's gone.
37:09You're back here now.
37:10You're away from Okinawa.
37:11You've forgotten it.
37:13But you remember who you are now.
37:15Who are you?
37:19Tell me.
37:22Dolly, that's right.
37:24Full name now.
37:26Dominic Daly.
37:27Dominic Daly, that's right.
37:30Know your mother's name?
37:34Isabel.
37:34That's right.
37:35Father?
37:38Salvatore.
37:39That's fine.
37:40You know who they all are now.
37:44All right, now you're coming back with us.
37:47This is gonna stay with you.
37:48You're going to remember it all.
37:52You're going to remember about Okinawa.
37:54You're going to remember about the shells and the bombs,
37:56but they're gone.
37:59You're at ease and relaxed.
38:02There's no fear, no anxiety.
38:04When I wake you up, you'll be comfortable and relaxed.
38:06No pains and no aches.
38:09But you'll remember all that I've told you.
38:13All that you've remembered.
38:14You can wake now.
38:22Well, how are you?
38:25Pretty good.
38:27Under the guidance of the psychiatrist,
38:29he is able to regard his experience
38:31in its true perspective as a thing of the past,
38:34which no longer threatens his safety.
38:37Now he can remember.
38:41Well, Hofmeister, what's your trouble?
38:48Hmm?
38:52It's hot, hot, hot, hot for me to get my words, words out.
39:01Yeah, it does seem to be a bit tough.
39:03How long have you had that trouble?
39:07It started about a month, month, month ago.
39:19Where were you then?
39:22I was in France.
39:26In France.
39:28Have you been in combat?
39:29Yes.
39:30Well, maybe we can help you talk a bit better
39:32and you can tell me more about it then, right?
39:35Let's lie down and see if we can't help you on that.
39:38This man is not a chronic stutterer.
39:41He suffers from a battle tension,
39:43which the drug will attempt to diminish.
39:46Like the man who could not walk
39:47and the man who could not remember,
39:49his illness has an emotional basis.
39:55Get all comfortable now and relaxed.
39:57We're just gonna give you some medicine here
39:59and it's gonna help limber up that tongue of yours.
40:03Now this is gonna make you feel a bit groggy.
40:06Okay.
40:17Well, now tell me now, how do you feel now?
40:21Hmm?
40:23Make any difference in your feeling?
40:24Oh yeah, it's just like seventh heaven.
40:27What is it?
40:29Tell me about it.
40:30Well, I can talk.
40:34That's fine, isn't it?
40:35I can talk.
40:37I can talk.
40:38That's good, boy.
40:38Listen, I can talk.
40:41Oh God, listen, I can talk.
40:44Oh, there's nothing wrong.
40:45Oh God, listen.
40:47All right, it's coming back now.
40:48You're gonna take it easy.
40:50Oh, listen, I can talk.
40:52Just the way you always did, is that right?
40:54Hmm?
40:55God, listen.
40:58God, I can talk.
40:59Just the way you always did, Hofmeister.
41:02You can keep right on with it now.
41:05Nice.
41:06Let's take it easy now.
41:07Just talk, just a little lightly now.
41:09Tell me, you got any idea why you couldn't talk before?
41:12What's coming to your mind now?
41:14Hmm?
41:16Tell me, what's coming to your mind now?
41:21What is it in your mind when you couldn't talk?
41:23What is it that stopped it?
41:26Something came through there and stopped it.
41:29What is it now?
41:29Think quickly.
41:30Think deeply.
41:31Let's go back.
41:32When was it you lost your speech?
41:35When was it you had your trouble talking?
41:35Go back quickly.
41:45Seems that I first noticed it on a boat.
41:49On a boat?
41:50Coming over.
41:52It first started with an S.
41:56And the fellas laughed at me.
41:58I don't know why they laughed.
42:01Till the guy started.
42:03Well, let's start with that S.
42:04Let's go back to that S now.
42:06What were you thinking then?
42:08What was in your mind then?
42:10Right now?
42:11No, then.
42:11On a boat?
42:12Yes, with that S.
42:13Well, you wouldn't say that S right.
42:16Yes.
42:17Yes.
42:22The port side.
42:24Port side.
42:25The port side.
42:28The port side of the ship.
42:31What side's that?
42:34That would be the left side.
42:35Left side, that's right.
42:36Yeah, I remember it.
42:37Of course, we were up there that afternoon
42:39and we saw the fishes.
42:42And we had some flying fishes.
42:45I came down.
42:47He said, I was telling the fellow underneath me
42:52about the ports that I had seen some
42:55flying fishes on the port side.
42:58He tried telling them about the flying fishes
43:00and he stumbled over the S sound.
43:03And the fellows laughed at him.
43:05Think hard.
43:06S, S.
43:08What does S remind him of?
43:10S, S.
43:14He remembers.
43:15It is the sound he fears.
43:18The sound of death in combat.
43:24The sound of a German 88 high explosive shell coming in.
43:28Now it is possible to proceed to the basic method
43:31of psychiatric treatment, discussion and understanding
43:34of the underlying causes of his symptom.
43:40♪♪
43:45As the weeks pass, the therapy begins to show its effect.
43:48The shock and stress of war are starting to wear off,
43:51for these men are blessed
43:52with the natural regenerative powers of youth.
43:56Now they are living less in the past and more in the present.
43:59Sometimes they think of the future.
44:01♪♪
44:05The war years must be put aside
44:07and the responsibilities of peace must be considered.
44:10A man might open a filling station or a hardware store,
44:14or he can buy a few acres of land and raise some chickens.
44:18He might even go back to school.
44:21♪♪
44:29Visitors' Day.
44:32Now the men resume their contact with the world outside.
44:36These are the people they are coming back to,
44:38whose lives are bound up with theirs.
44:41Without their understanding,
44:42all that has been accomplished in the last few weeks
44:44can be torn down.
44:46With it, their return to life can be doubly swift and sure.
44:50♪♪
44:56Classes in group psychotherapy continue.
45:00The men are thinking of themselves in relation to society.
45:03How will they fit into the post-war pattern?
45:06How will the world receive them?
45:08You fellows have had an opportunity
45:11to be home with your families
45:13since you've returned from overseas.
45:16Have you noticed any change
45:18in the various members of your family toward you,
45:21in their reactions toward you?
45:23Well, I found out after four years of absence
45:26that it only took me the second day
45:29to be really relaxed
45:31and I was right chummy again with my dad
45:34and talked about the old neighborhood and new changes.
45:39I don't know, it surprised me.
45:41Do you feel that your family has to be taught
45:44how to treat you when you come back?
45:46No, absolutely not.
45:48How do you want to be treated by your family?
45:50The same I was treated before I went into the service.
45:53No difference.
45:54You don't want to be treated any differently?
45:55No.
45:57I was talking to one man and I said,
45:59what do you think of us fellows
46:01that come back with psychoneurosis anxiety state?
46:05And I says, you can see that we're not crazy by any means.
46:09He says, well, my, before I come out here to see,
46:11he says, my first impression was like in Bellevue.
46:14He said, fellows from the last war,
46:16they're completely maniacs.
46:18He said, that was my first impression.
46:20And I'm wondering if, I mean,
46:22the great percentage of the people are going to be like that
46:25when we get out.
46:26That is a common concern among servicemen
46:32who have developed nervous conditions
46:34during their stay in the army
46:36as to what the public is going to think about them.
46:40Undoubtedly, there will be people on the outside
46:44who won't have any understanding of the condition,
46:47who may think of it as being a rather shameful condition.
46:52That's why we're having an educational program,
46:54trying to educate the public into understanding.
46:58Unfortunately, most of you fellows have gone through
47:01some very severe stresses in the army,
47:04stresses that civilians are rarely subjected to.
47:08In civilian life, you can avoid serious stresses.
47:11If a civilian, the average civilian,
47:14were subjected to similar stresses,
47:16he undoubtedly would have developed the same type of nervous condition
47:20that most of you fellows developed.
47:22All of us have our so-called breaking point.
47:26And a survey outside showed that civilians on the whole
47:30were more nervous than soldiers.
47:33On Park Avenue, for instance,
47:35where some of your richest people live,
47:37most of the patients are people who suffer from nervous disorders,
47:43and if the doctor won't give them a pill,
47:46why, they'll go out and say, well, he's not a good doctor.
47:48So therefore, they're given pills and they take them at home.
47:52They take these pills at home because the hospitals are too full.
47:54If the hospitals were empty, they'd be in a sanitarium or so forth.
47:59Having been through none of these discussions,
48:01like the other men have,
48:03I know that we have learned
48:06the basis of how we've gotten nervous,
48:08some of us through combat,
48:10and some of us by not being in combat.
48:13And I think, and I'm sure that we have a better understanding of our conditions,
48:18and I'm pretty grateful of being here at Mason General Hospital,
48:21where a lot of fellows are.
48:22I just so happens I couldn't walk,
48:24and they made me walk.
48:26I couldn't walk when I arrived, and I was here 24 hours, and they made me walk.
48:29I feel pretty grateful for getting my limbs back.
48:31But that doesn't mean I'm driving that.
48:33It's that I know that when I get out of here,
48:37and the other fellows do too,
48:39that we're going to try our best to make ourselves
48:43as best we can.
48:44And we feel more confident in the
48:49grasp of this nervous situation that's come about us,
48:51and we want to show people that we can do things on our own on the outside,
48:55whether we've been in the hospital for nerves or mental or whatever we've been,
48:58whether we've lost an arm or a leg,
48:59that we can be just as good as anybody else.
49:01All I want is that they give us a chance
49:03to prove our equality, like they said they were,
49:07and I hope they keep their promise. That's all I want.
49:10Would you make it a point to tell your employer
49:14that you were a psychoneurotic?
49:15Well, if he's an intelligent man,
49:17which most well-known employers are that own large concerns,
49:23why, he's going to react the same as any other normal human being would.
49:27He's going to say it's absolutely possible.
49:29And the man right now looks all right.
49:32I'll try him out.
49:33But you may run into employers
49:36who are not that broad-minded or intelligent.
49:38Yes, sir. And I'll sell myself to them.
49:41How about you, health minister?
49:42Do you have any plans about jobs?
49:44Do you have any fears about getting a job?
49:46No, not at all. I've got my job waiting for me, sir.
49:49You have your job waiting for you.
49:51I think it comes down to this, doesn't it,
49:53that most of you fellows feel that you ought to be honest with your employer,
49:58that you have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of.
50:02Isn't that the general attitude?
50:04Yes, sir. That's the way all of us feel.
50:06Your time in the service was not entirely wasted.
50:10You have learned a great deal in the service.
50:13For instance, a great many jobs and tasks that you've learned to do in the service
50:18that you have had absolutely no contact with in the past.
50:21You've also learned to work in groups,
50:24something that every soldier learns to do very early in his military career.
50:29This definitely will be of much value to you in your future civilian employment.
50:37The weeks have slipped by fast.
50:40The first strangeness of hospital life has become routine.
50:44Sometimes a man learns something new.
50:47The ranger always did want to play guitar.
51:07A man learns to play guitar.
51:31And now the days begin to seem long
51:34There's the old healthy sound of belly aching in the air, spinach, spinach again.
51:40And how about a good movie for a change?
51:45And how about putting some ice cream in the ice cream soda?
51:50No longer is a man shut up within the lonely recesses of himself.
51:54He is breaking out of his prison into life.
51:58The life that lies ahead, offering infinite possibilities for happiness and sorrow.
52:04How does a man find happiness?
52:07Is there a secret to discover?
52:09What is the mysterious ingredient that gives joy and meaning to living?
52:15You know in the Bible where it says, man does not live by bread alone.
52:20Children don't grow up well without safety and confidence.
52:25If that wasn't in one's childhood, in growing up, you could say, now there's something missing.
52:33During all that time.
52:35And the next question is, how to supply it?
52:38And it does need to be supplied.
52:42Not all of the learning in all of the books is half as valuable in getting over nervousness
52:49as to find someone that you esteem, that you can learn to feel safe with.
52:56Where you can get a feeling of being accepted, of cherished.
53:02Where you get a feeling that you're worthwhile and that you are important to someone.
53:08You could say, the feeding that you didn't get, that's something more than bread.
53:14When you were little, you still need to get it.
53:17You still need to be fed with acceptance and to find the safety.
53:24In other words, knowledge alone is not enough.
53:31Eight weeks have passed.
53:48What about these men?
53:50Are they ready for discharge?
53:54How complete is their recovery?
54:01How about the boy in right field?
54:08I just didn't care what happened to me.
54:16How about the kid at bat?
54:19That's all was covered by dirt.
54:23And I was covered up for 29 hours after the kid had found me.
54:32Hey, he's out, he's out, he's out, he's out.
54:48Out, tell you're out, I said you're out, go on.
54:54How about the young pilot?
54:55Tell you're out.
55:06You're out, go on, batter up.
55:11How about this kid?
55:21How about him?
55:26Are they well enough to be discharged?
55:42That is for the doctors to decide at tomorrow's boarding.
55:56The answer is yes.
56:20Men, this is your last military formation.
56:24Today, you're returning to your homes, your families, and friends.
56:29Many of you have been looking forward eagerly to this day.
56:32But remember, when you reenter civilian life,
56:35on your shoulders falls much of the responsibility for the post-war world.
56:40May your lives as civilians be as worthy as your records as soldiers.
56:44Good health, good fortune, and Godspeed.
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