An Evaluation of the Adjustment of Five Veterans-Returned to Their Own Home as Compared to Five Veterans in Homes Other Than Their Own, on Trial Visit at the New York Regional Office From a Veterans Administration Neuropsychiatric Hospital

Background of the Study: This study was undertaken at this time because of the intense interest and general questions concerning the return of the mentally ill veteran to his own home or the home other than his own. The writer, a student at the Fordham University School of Social Service had an eight month field work placement at the New York Regional Office of the Veterans Administration in the Trial Visit Program from October 1953 to May 1954, and here his interest in the adjustment of the veteran on trial visit was stimulated by the realization of the paucity of material available on this subject. The care of the mentally ill is one of the oldest of social problems. Through the centuries there has been an evolution of care by changing authorities, the church, local community, the state and the central authority\u27s. Policies affecting their care had been primarily influenced by the point of view of religion, of custody and in our own age of therapy and rehabilitation. In medevial times the belief in demon possession as the cause of insanity was general. Hence the mentally ill were feared and shunned and treatment was directed toward removal of the evil spirits. Witchcraft, with its incantation and potions was often used to this end. But more usual were religious rites of various kinds, the evil spirit was to be removed by religious rituals and commands and often were mixed with whippings and floggings