An Italian private, 19, came up for desertion in the face of the enemy. He had had a good record during a year of military service and his army conduct in the war was regarded as very good.
He felt sad and preoccupied for a number of days, but all of a sudden “some indomitable force” thrust the idea into him to go out into the country a distance of some 20 kilometers from the front, with the definite object of praying in a certain church. It seems that this same impulse had occurred to him several times before but not so forcibly. These prayers were to be said in memory of some sad events in his life.
Upon examination he was found in a sad and self-accusatory state, much discouraged with ideas of his guilt, unworthiness, and ruin. He had a variety of gloomy fears and obsessions, all of which contributed to the dromomania that culminated in desertion.
As to his previous history, he had had a depressive psychosis two years before, but the delusions at that time were of persecution. He had also suffered from typhoid fever a few weeks thereafter.
Suppressed homosexuality.
Case 192. (R. P. Smith, October, 1916.)
A man, 32 years, of high intellectual attainments and unblemished moral character—a teacher—enlisted as a private. He apparently found his associates in camp very uncongenial and undesirable. He grew physically tired, then mentally tired and unable to concentrate attention. He began to neglect his uniform, could not keep his equipment in order, became introspective and depressed. The drums he heard seemed to point to his funeral. There was but one thing to do in his opinion: that was to humiliate himself by committing sodomy. He thought of committing suicide.
Upon discharge from military duty, he began to show improvement. Smith regards this case as one of suppressed homosexuality.
Of the cases in which change or excessive work is the precipitating cause, four out of six of Smith’s cases were men.