Like measles, which is no laughing matter when a grownup gets it, homesickness among soldiers is a real disease. As Army doctors at Camp Blanding, Fla., who have studied thousands of U.S. patients, describe it:
Homesickness is “a contagious disorder which may spread with the speed of an epidemic.” Its advanced stages are marked by physical disorders, irresponsibility, inefficiency. It may be characterized by cold sweats, palpitations, chronic constipation, headaches, weeping and sobbing.
Uneducated youths with mother fixations are most liable. Indifferent treatment will aggravate latent organic weaknesses, may drive them to commit crimes as a means of escape.
Therapy: fatherly sergeants, sympathetic Red Cross workers. For extreme cases, a furlough.
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