Psychiatric Casework in an Army Setting

Abstract

The foregoing has been an attempt to illustrate the process of psychiatric casework in the outpatient department of a United States army general hospital. Although social work in the army had its beginning during the recent war where it performed service in training camps, overseas bases, rehabilitation centers, and hospitals, in the years following the war it has become focused in well-defined areas.

The casework process, as illustrated, is similar to social casework in many civilian psychiatric settings. The similarity is brought out intentionally. The basic skill of casework is the same in all settings. Casework is applicable to the military community to the same degree that it applies to any well-organized community. The soldier and his dependents live in surroundings that in many respects resemble those found in the average American town. In order that he may be a more efficient soldier the army community strives to meet his needs just as any town or city endeavors to meet the needs of its citizens. The neuropsychiatric outpatient clinic and the role of the social worker in such a clinic are but one example of the peacetime medical care program in the military community.