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 MILITARY
PSYCHOLOGY
CLINICAL AND OPERATIONAL
APPLICATIONS
 SECOND EDITION

edited by
Carrie H. Kennedy
Eric A. Zillmer

Foreword by Thomas C. Lynch

THE GUILFORD PRESS

New York London
Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462506569; Kindle Edition ISBN:
9781462506576

© 2012 The Guilford Press

A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.

72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012

www.guilford.com

All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.
Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The authors have checked with sources believed to be reliable in
their efforts to provide information that is complete and generally in
accord with the standards of practice that are accepted at the time of
publication. However, in view of the possibility of human error or
changes in behavioral, mental health, or medical sciences, neither
the authors, nor the editors and publisher, nor any other party who
has been involved in the preparation or publication of this work
warrants that the information contained herein is in every respect
accurate or complete, and they are not responsible for any errors or
omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.
Readers are encouraged to confirm the information contained in this
book with other sources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Military psychology: clinical and operational applications / edited
by Carrie H.
Kennedy and Eric A. Zillmer.—2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4625-0649-1 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Psychology, Military. 2. United States—Armed Forces—Medical

care. 3. Operational psychology—Moral and ethical aspects. 4.
Psychological
warfare—United States. I. Kennedy, Carrie H. II. Zillmer, Eric.

U22.3.M487 2012

355.001′9—dc23

2012017933

The views presented in this book are those of the authors and do
not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Air Force, U.S.
Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense, the
U.S. Government, or any other institution with which the authors are
affiliated.
To the men and women who serve
in the Pennsylvania National Guard
 About the Editors

Carrie H. Kennedy, PhD, ABPP, is a Commander in the Medical Service Corps of the
United States Navy and is the Group Psychologist for the Marine Corps Embassy Security
Group in Quantico, Virginia. She has served at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth,
Virginia; the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; the United States Naval
Hospital in Okinawa, Japan; the University of Virginia (Duty Under Instruction;
Neuropsychology Fellowship); and the Naval Aerospace Medical Institute in Pensacola,
Florida. Dr. Kennedy has deployed with the Detention Hospital in Guantanamo Bay and with
the 1st Medical Battalion to Helmand Province, Afghanistan. She is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association (Division 19, Military Psychology) and the American
Academy of Clinical Psychology. Dr. Kennedy is coeditor of the books Military
Neuropsychology, Wheels Down: Adjusting to Life after Deployment, and Ethical Practice in
Operational Psychology: Military and National Intelligence Applications and serves on the
editorial boards of the journals Military Psychology and Psychological Services.

Eric A. Zillmer, PsyD, is the Carl R. Pacifico Professor of Neuropsychology and Director of
Athletics at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is a clinical psychologist and a Fellow of
the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the American Psychological Association, the
Society for Personality Assessment, and the National Academy of Neuropsychology, for
which he has also served as president. Dr. Zillmer has written extensively in the areas of
sports psychology, neuropsychology, and the psychology of terrorists. He is the author of
several books, including Principles of Neuropsychology and The Quest for the Nazi
Personality: A Psychological Investigation of Nazi War Criminals, and the coauthor of two
psychological assessment procedures: the d2 Test of Attention and the Tower of London
test.
 Contributors

Victoria Anderson-Barnes, BS, Department of Psychology, The

Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania

Teresa M. Au, MA, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Department of

Psychology, Boston, University, Boston, Massachusetts

Colonel Bruce E. Crow, Warrior Resiliency Program, Southern Regional

Medical Command, San Antonio, Texas

Benjamin D. Dickstein, MA, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Department

of Psychology, Boston, University, Boston, Massachusetts

Commander (Ret) Anthony P. Doran, PsyD, United States Navy,

Psychological Consulting Services, Millersville, Maryland

Louis M. French, PsyD, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Walter
Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland

Michael G. Gelles, PsyD, ABPP (United States Navy, 1986–1993), Deloitte

Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia

Lieutenant Colonel Revonda Grayson, PhD, United States Air Force,

Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, San
Antonio, Texas

Captain Patricia J. Hammond, PsyD, United States Army, John F. Kennedy

Special Warfare Center and School, Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Colonel Sally Harvey, PhD, United States Army, Intelligence and Security
Command, Fort Meade, Maryland

Laurel L. Hourani, PhD, MPH, Research Triangle Institute International,

Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Captain (Sel) Gary B. Hoyt, PsyD, United States Navy, Naval Special
Warfare Development Group, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Lieutenant Colonel Ann S. Hryshko-Mullen, PhD, ABPP, United States Air

Force, Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center, Lackland Air Force Base,
Texas

Jamie G. H. Hacker Hughes, PsychD, FBPsS, Joint Medical Command,

Ministry of Defense, Visiting Professor of Military Psychological Therapies,
Anglia Ruskin University, Heybridge, Essex, United Kingdom

Captain David E. Jones, PhD, ABPP, United States Navy, Navy Medicine
East, Portsmouth, Virginia

Lieutenant James M. Keener, PsyD, ABPP, United States Navy, Oceanside,

California

Commander Carrie H. Kennedy, PhD, ABPP, United States Navy, Quantico,

Virginia

Lieutenant Commander Melissa D. Hiller Lauby, PhD, ABPP, United States

Navy, Center for Security Forces/SERE West, Naval Base Coronado, San
Diego, California

Brett T. Litz, PhD, VA Boston Healthcare System, Massachusetts Veterans

Epidemiological Research and Information Center, Boston, Massachusetts

Teresa L. Marino-Carper, PhD, Orlando VA Medical Center, and University of

Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, Florida

Shawn T. Mason, PhD, Wellness and Prevention, Inc., Johnson and Johnson
Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland

Captain (Ret) William A. McDonald, MD, United States Navy, Psychiatry

Department, Navy Medicine Operational Training Center Detachment, Naval
Aerospace Medical Institute, Pensacola, Florida

Donald D. McGeary, PhD, ABPP, Department of Psychiatry, University of

Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey A. McNeil, PhD, United States Army Special

Operations Command, Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Commander (Ret) Mark C. Monahan, PhD, United States Navy,
Comprehensive Combat and Complex Casualty Care, Naval Medical Center,
San Diego, California

Bret A. Moore, PsyD, ABPP, (United States Army, 2003–2008), Behavioral

Readiness Division, Warrior Resiliency Program, Southern Regional Medical
Command, San Antonio, Texas

Charles A. Morgan III, MD, Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School

of Medicine, and National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, New
Haven, Connecticut

Russell E. Palarea, PhD, Operational Psychology Services, LLC, Bethesda,

Maryland

Lieutenant Commander Ingrid B. Pauli, PhD, United States Public Health

Service, Department of Psychology, Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth,
Virginia

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Alan L. Peterson, PhD, ABPP, United States Air
Force, Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Health Science Center at
San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas

Colonel James J. Picano, PhD, United States Army Reserve, Department of

Veterans Affairs, Northern California Health Care System, Fairfield, California

Lieutenant Mathew B. Rariden, PsyD, ABPP, USS Theodore Roosevelt

(CVN-71), Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia

Greg M. Reger, PhD, (United States Army, 2003–2007), National Center for
Telehealth and Technology, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington

Colonel (Ret) Robert R. Roland, PsyD, United States Army

Lieutenant Colonel Kirk L. Rowe, PhD, ABPP, United States Air Force,
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio

Laurie M. Ryan, PhD, Neuroscience and Neuropsychology of Aging Program,

National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, Maryland

Nancy A. Skopp, PhD, National Center for Telehealth and Technology, Joint
Base Lewis-McChord, Tacoma, Washington
Commander Aaron D. Werbel, PhD, United States Navy, USS Dwight D.
Eisenhower (CVN-71), Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia

Colonel (Ret) Thomas J. Williams, PhD, United States Army War College,
Leader Feedback Program, Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret) Thomas M. Zazeckis, PhD, United States Air

Force, Behavioral Analysis Service, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio,
Texas

Eric A. Zillmer, PsyD, Department of Psychology and Department of

Athletics, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 Foreword

Less than one quarter of the 35 million Americans between the

ages of 17 and 24 have the necessary qualifications for service in
the U.S. armed forces. These men and women volunteers of the
U.S. military meet high standards, and together they compose what I
believe to be the finest military organization ever produced. And yes,
this includes the “greatest generation” who won World War II and is
now regrettably passing from the scene, as well as my own
generation who confronted and won the Cold War. For the most part,
the Cold War was just that. We trained the way we were going to
fight—through all types of weather and battlefield conditions without
pulling the trigger—with some exceptions. We were physically fit,
motivated, and well prepared for any eventuality. With the fall of the
Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent demise of the Soviet Union,
we rejoiced (naïvely) because we believed that our vigilance saved
the next generation of Americans from experiencing the holocaust of
war. How wrong we were!

Today’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines realize that from the
moment they take the oath to protect and defend the United States
of America against all enemies foreign and domestic they become
our shield as they serve on the frontlines of our current war on terror
and, therefore, may expect frequent deployments, continual
violence, and the daily threat of death. I marvel at their courage,
determination, and resilience.

The daily news brings Americans reports of the most recent suicide
bombing, improvised explosive device attacks, and other combat
actions with their resultant casualty count. After a while, the news
becomes numbing. Even though we know the physical toll these
events take on our personnel, the unseen psychological effects are
just as devastating to the individual warfighter and the military unit
itself, and more difficult to detect and address.

The authors have described these effects in the following pages. I

encourage every operational military commander to read this book
because, much the same as a football coach roaming the sidelines,
the commander must know at all times, to the best of his or her
ability, the mental as well as the physical readiness of the unit. I
believe that the football analogy is an apt one. Today in the National
Football League and in organized sports in general we have been
awakened to the debilitating effects that nerve injuries and multiple
concussions may have on an individual. No longer do we consider a
stinger injury or “having your bell rung” symptoms of courage or
displays of toughness to be ignored. We now understand, for
example, the harmful damage that successive concussions may
have on the brain. Specially trained corpsmen, medics, medical
officers, and psychologists are called immediately to evaluate an
injured individual, much as a physician, not a coach, determines if a
player is fit to resume play. So it must be with an operational
commander who needs to be aware of and continually assess
individual and unit mental readiness.

The men and women serving in our military today are, as were their
forefathers, a reflection of our society. They are but a very small
percentage of the population, but they protect our way of life, and
they are being stressed as never before. This book does not provide
easy solutions, but it will serve the commander, anyone in a
leadership position (which includes most men and women in
uniform), and our medical and mental health providers invaluable
information that can be applied on the battlefield, after returning from
deployment, and later in traditional clinics and hospital settings. We
all must become informed about, aware of, and attentive to the
stressors experienced by our men and women in the armed forces,
and for that I am indebted to the authors.
THOMAS C. LYNCH
Rear Admiral (Ret), United States
Navy
Commander of the Eisenhower
Battle Group during Operation
Desert Shield, Superintendent of
the U.S. Naval Academy (1991–
1994), and captain of the Navy
football team (1963)
 Preface

Military psychology represents the practical application of

psychological science. As with any applied field, growth occurs in
response to real world needs. The Global War on Terror has now
lasted over a decade, and military psychologists have had to adapt
to changes in service member and organizational requirements,
necessitating greater numbers of military psychologists, working as
researchers and clinicians, in both military facilities and the theater of
operations. The amplified need for psychological science and clinical
services has resulted in more formal training programs, professional
opportunities and responsibilities, and increased utilization of military
psychologists.

These requirements have grown largely because of terrorist tactics

employed in current wars. The physical and psychological injuries
incurred in battle, and even on the home front, present a serious
challenge to allied forces. Clinical military psychologists have played
center stage from the beginning of this war, addressing issues as
diverse as combat stress, blast concussion, virtual reality treatments,
telehealth, and detainee mental healthcare.

Both the clinical practice of psychology and its operational

applications have grown tremendously in response to the war.
Fighting terrorism requires creative nontraditional tactics, and
psychologists have proven to be a powerful force in counterterrorism
and counterintelligence efforts. Furthermore, military psychologists
continue to hone crisis negotiation strategies, procedures for training
service members at high risk of enemy capture, and assessment and
selection procedures for special duty personnel. In addition to their
wartime responsibilities, military psychologists continue to support
peacekeeping missions and disaster response efforts (e.g., the Haiti
earthquake).

With the increase in both the numbers and duties of military

psychologists has come a greater acceptance of mental health
professionals and behavioral scientists as integrated members of
military and operational commands. Embedded psychologists are
now a regular part of Marine ground units, Navy aircraft carriers, and
special operational forces, and interaction with psychologists and
mental health professionals of all stripes is becoming routine and
less stigmatizing.

The second edition of Military Psychology: Clinical and Operational

Applications has been revised to incorporate many of the changes in
the practice of military psychology since the first edition was
published in 2006. The book expands on the history of military
psychology and updates the areas of assessment and selection of
special duty personnel; military health psychology; military
neuropsychology; substance abuse prevalence and treatment;
suicide prevention; survival, evasion, resistance, and escape (SERE)
psychology; and hostage negotiations. In addition, there are new
chapters on the assessment and management of acute combat
stress on the battlefield, addressing common mental health problems
postdeployment, modern disaster response, and military psychology
ethics, as well as a howto chapter on conducting the fitness-for-duty
evaluation.

The second edition is again an edited volume owing to the vast

scope of the field of military psychology. We carefully selected
contributors for their proven expertise in their subject and are
indebted to each of them for taking the time away from their wartime
duties, civilian employments, and families to cover this timely
information. We present this practical manual as a road map to help
meet the needs of our service members and optimize our military
potential using the principles of military psychology.
 Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

About the Editors

Contributors

Foreword

Preface

CHAPTER 1. A History of Military Psychology

Carrie H. Kennedy, Jamie G. H. Hacker Hughes, and Jeffrey A. McNeil

CHAPTER 2. Fitness-for-Duty Evaluations

Mark C. Monahan and James M. Keener

CHAPTER 3. Assessment and Selection of High-Risk Operational Personnel:

Identifying Essential Psychological Attributes
James J. Picano, Thomas J. Williams, and Robert R. Roland

CHAPTER 4. Assessment and Management of Acute Combat Stress on the

Battlefield
Bret A. Moore, Shawn T. Mason, and Bruce E. Crow

CHAPTER 5. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, and Other Psychological

Sequelae of Military Deployment
Greg M. Reger and Nancy A. Skopp
CHAPTER 6. Clinical Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine in Military
Healthcare Settings
Alan L. Peterson, Ann S. Hryshko-Mullen, and Donald D. McGeary

CHAPTER 7. Military Roles in Postdisaster Mental Health

Teresa M. Au, Teresa L. Marino-Carper, Benjamin D. Dickstein, and Brett
T. Litz

CHAPTER 8. Neuropsychological Practice in the Military

Louis M. French, Victoria Anderson-Barnes, Laurie M. Ryan, Thomas M.
Zazeckis, and Sally Harvey

CHAPTER 9. Suicide Prevention in the Military

David E. Jones, Laurel L. Hourani, Mathew B. Rariden, Patricia J.
Hammond, and Aaron D. Werbel

CHAPTER 10. Substance Abuse Services and Gambling Treatment in the Military
Ingrid B. Pauli, Carrie H. Kennedy, David E. Jones, William A. McDonald,
and Revonda Grayson

CHAPTER 11. Crisis and Hostage Negotiation

Russell E. Palarea, Michael G. Gelles, and Kirk L. Rowe

CHAPTER 12. Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) Training:

Preparing Military Members for the Demands of Captivity
Anthony P. Doran, Gary B. Hoyt, Melissa D. Hiller Lauby, and Charles A.
Morgan III

CHAPTER 13. The Psychology of Terrorists: Nazi Perpetrators, the Baader–Meinhof

Gang, War Crimes in Bosnia, Suicide Bombers, the Taliban, and Al
Qaeda
Eric A. Zillmer

CHAPTER 14. Ethical Dilemmas in Clinical, Operational, Expeditionary, and Combat

Environments
Carrie H. Kennedy

Index
About Guilford Press

Discover Related Guilford Titles

CHAPTER 1
 A History of Military Psychology
Carrie H. Kennedy
Jamie G. H. Hacker Hughes
Jeffrey A. McNeil

The history of military psychology is particularly rich. Although

military history reaches back thousands of years, formal military
psychology is only a recent development, less than a century old.
The development of psychology in the United States and elsewhere
has had a similar trajectory as that of military psychology in the
United States and in other nations, and it is easy to conclude that
their history and growth are undeniably linked. However, the growth
of military psychology has occurred in spurts, each related to the
demands, psychological as well as military, of the conflicts of
different nations.

Whereas formal psychology has been only recently introduced to

militaries, organizational, clinical, and operational psychological
concepts are inextricably intertwined with the historical development
of war. Despite the fact that the history of formalized military
psychology is relatively short, its impact pervades the practice of
psychology. Military psychology has evolved from that of limited
participation in wars of the past to today’s war, where it has been an
indispensable asset in combat readiness and policy development.
This chapter briefly describes the development of the profession of
military psychology and the various roles of the military psychologist
through the years. The following chapters also provide some history
of specific issues, to which the reader is directed.

EARLY HISTORY OF U.S. MILITARY PSYCHOLOGY: THE

REVOLUTIONARY WAR
During the American Revolutionary War, almost no attention was
paid to the emotional toll of battle. In fact, adverse reactions to
combat were often deemed a defect of character or cowardice.
However, the war did see one of the first U.S. psychological
operations campaigns: The colonials distributed enticement leaflets
where they would be seen by British troops, encouraging their
desertion. The leaflets advertised “seven dollars a month, fresh
provisions and in plenty, health, freedom, ease, affluence and a good
farm” at Prospect Hill, whereas at Bunker Hill one would receive
“three pence a day, rotten salt pork, the scurvy, and slavery, beggary,
and want” (Walters, 1968, p. 23). The British retaliated with a
propaganda campaign of cartoons, which depicted the colonials as
“a mob of cowardly, undisciplined, whiskey drinking, and mostly
unkempt renegades” (Johnson, 1997, p. 9). Since then,
psychological operations in the U.S. military have evolved to highly
organized endeavors that have been credited for significantly
influencing the outcome of war and conflict since World War II (Joint
Chiefs of Staff, 2003).

THE U.S. CIVIL WAR

During the U.S. Civil War, military medicine was in its infancy,
although military physicians were responsible for the medical
screening of recruits. If a physician missed an illness or failed to
detect a malingered malady, he was fined (Lande, 1997), apparently
because soldiers received a bonus for enlisting and occasionally
would then reveal a physical illness or mental health condition to
avoid service. It was during the Civil War that the first steps were
taken to address the effects of combat and war on servicemen. The
concept of nostalgia was first described, and military doctors
reported treating other such psychological concepts as phantom pain
in amputees (Shorter, 1997), acute and chronic mania, alcoholism,
suicidal behavior, and sunstroke (Lande, 1997). While there is no
documentation of the number of nostalgia cases, one anecdote
depicts the numbers of psychiatric casualties of the Civil War.
Both the Union and Confederate Armies attempted to utilize hospital ships to evacuate
their wounded situated in areas near the Atlantic coastline. It has been reported that
both armies had to abandon the use of such ships because a large number of
individuals suffering from what was then called “nostalgia” practically clogged the
gangplanks. This precluded such ships’ properly caring for the physically sick and
wounded. (Allerton, 1969, p. 2)

Following the war, soldiers who presented themselves for mental

health care were often diagnosed with chronic mania. Formal
programs to address veterans’ problems were scant. These
servicemen were mostly cared for at home—although at times
housed in the local jail because of the lack of other appropriate
means to keep them and others safe—and many were treated in
insane asylums (Dean, 1997). The United States Government
Hospital for the Insane (USGHI; now known as St. Elizabeths
Hospital) was created for military patients in the mid-1800s and
eventually provided care for all government patients, including those
who attempted to assassinate Presidents Andrew Jackson and
Ronald Reagan (McGuire, 1990).

The Civil War saw the first documentation of substance use

problems related to combat: abuse and addiction to alcohol, chloral
hydrate, cocaine, morphine, and opium as well as substance
withdrawal (Dean, 1997; Watanabe, Harig, Rock, & Koshes, 1994).
Anecdotally, it appears that many of the chronic addiction problems
among Civil War veterans were related to medical treatment for pain
(Dean, 1997; see Chapter 10, this volume, for more information on
substance abuse and the military).

WORLD WAR I

World War I (WWI) marked the official birth of military psychology in

the United States. Specifically, in April 1917, Robert Yerkes, then the
head of the American Psychological Association (APA), convened a
group of psychologists, including James McKeen Cattell, G. Stanley
Hall, Edward L. Thorndike, and John B. Watson. Their charter was to
determine how psychology could help the war effort. The committee
recommended that “psychologists volunteer for and be assigned to
the work in which their service will be of the greatest use to the
nation” (Yerkes, 1917). Committees were developed, ranging from
the Committee on the Selection of Men for Tasks Requiring Special
Skills to the Committee on Problems of Motivation in Connection with
Military Service. On August 17, 1917, Yerkes was commissioned as
a major in the Army (Uhlaner, 1967; Zeidner & Drucker, 1988), and
by January 1918, 132 officers were commissioned for work in the
Division of Psychology, Office of the Surgeon General (Zeidner &
Drucker, 1988; see Figures 1.1 and 1.2). Their work signified the first
concerted efforts to screen military recruits and included such
notable statisticians as E. L. Thorndike, Louis Thurstone, and Arthur
Otis (Driskell & Olmstead, 1989). WWI had such an impact on
psychology that only one paper presented at the 1918 APA annual
convention had nothing to do with the war (Gade & Drucker, 2000),
and while there were only 200 members of APA at the time, 400
psychologists contributed to the war effort.

FIGURE 1.1. First company of commissioned psychologists, School for Military Psychology,
Camp Greenleaf. (***denotes officer not a psychologist.) From left to right—front row: Wood,
Roberts, Brueckner, Stone, Foster (instructor), Tyng (battalion major), Hunter, Hayes, ***,
***, Edwards, Stech, LaRue. Second row: ***, ***, Malmberg, Moore, Norton, Shumway,
Arps, ***, ***, Stokes, Jones, Pedrick, Toll. Third row: Manuel, Bates, Miller, Chamberlain,
Basset, Estabrook, Poffenberger, Benson, Trabue, Doll, Rowe, Elliott. Top row: Paterson,
Dallenbach, Pittenger, Boring, Wylie, Bare, English, Sylvester, Morgan, Anderson, Houser.
Maj. Yerkes is shown in the corner. Reprinted from Yerkes (1921).

FIGURE 1.2. Supply company barracks assigned to psychological board at Camp Grant,
showing typical psychological staff. Of the four officers in front, the captain at the left is the
psychiatrist, and the three lieutenants (Sylvester, Benson, Terry) are psychologists.
Reprinted from Yerkes (1921).

The Army alpha (for those who were literate in English; see Figure
1.3) and beta (for those who were not literate, who were literate in
another language, and/or who failed the alpha) intelligence tests
were developed and administered to 1,750,000 men during the war
(Kevles, 1968). Of these men, 7,800 were recommended “for
discharge by psychological examiners because of mental inferiority,”
10,014 were recommended for assignment “to labor battalions
because of low grade intelligence,” and 9,487 were recommended
for assignment to “development battalions, in order that they might
be more carefully observed and given preliminary training to
discover, if possible, ways of using them in the Army” (Yerkes, 1921,
p. 99).
FIGURE 1.3. Scoring examination papers. The scorers are working at mess tables on
examination alpha. Reprinted from Yerkes (1921).

The Army alpha evolved into the Wechsler–Bellevue Scale, the

precursor to the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, which has
become the most frequently used intelligence test today (Boake,
2002). Intelligence testing during WWI marked the first means of
testing hundreds of individuals simultaneously and led Lewis Terman
(1918) to emphasize the need for standardized administration of
psychological tests. Intellectual testing was not the only focus during
WWI. The Woodworth Personality Data Sheet, which became the
model for subsequent personality assessments, was introduced at
that time (Page, 1996), and Yerkes developed procedures to assess
and select individuals to become officers and undertake special
assignments (Zeidner & Drucker, 1988).

The success of psychological testing in WWI was the impetus for the
earliest recognition of psychology as a respected field. The success
of group testing had significant implications for organizations like
grade schools, universities, and licensing boards. These tests also
kindled the interest of private industry in search of help from
psychologists with such problems as employee absenteeism,
employee turnover, and ways to increase industrial efficiency
(Zeidner & Drucker, 1988).

Of particular note for today’s war, WWI marked the creation of the
specialty of neurosurgery and the means to save the lives of
servicemen with head injuries. With these advances arose the field
of cognitive rehabilitation, advocated heavily by Shepherd I. Franz, a
psychologist at USGHI, whose efforts to create a rehabilitation
research institute were unfortunately unsuccessful. However, Franz
published manuals and books on cognitive assessment and “re-
education” (Boake, 1989; Franz, 1923). Most military hospitals did
provide rudimentary rehabilitation during WWI but were closed after
the war because of lack of need.

Aviation psychology was born during WWI, and its major focus was
the psychological screening of pilots in order to select those most
likely to successfully complete training and avoid aviation accidents
(Driskell & Olmstead, 1989). Early work showed that the best
candidates possessed high levels of intelligence, emotional stability
(i.e., low levels of excitability), perception of tilt, and mental alertness
(Koonce, 1984). In addition to widespread intellectual testing,
psychological screening and head injury rehabilitation, the clinical
condition of war neurosis was identified (Young, 1999).

While in the United States psychiatrists filled the clinical role, in the
United Kingdom army psychologists not only provided clinical care
but did so in the combat zone, something U.S. military psychologists
would not engage in until Korea (see The Korean War, p. 13). With
the outbreak of WWI, British Army psychologists deployed to
wartime France in 1914 in support of British troops. Operating from
field hospitals and casualty clearing stations and, later, NYDN (Not
Yet Diagnosed Neurological) hospitals, they saw large numbers of
personnel suffering from shell-shock (Smith & Pear, 1917),
disordered action of the heart (DAH), and related syndromes (Jones
& Wessely, 2005). British psychologists also presided over the
evacuation, to rear areas or to the United Kingdom, of military
personnel who were deemed unfit for further combat, at least in the
immediate future.

In Britain, a large number of hospitals were established, including

Craiglockhart (made famous in novelist Pat Barker’s Regeneration
trilogy, as the hospital where the writers Siegfried Sassoon and
Wilfred Owen were treated together by British Army psychologist W.
H. Rivers; Shephard, 2000). Rivers and his colleague C.S. Myers
were both medical practitioners who had taken up the new discipline
of psychology, and both worked at Sir Frederick Bartlett’s
Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of
Cambridge. Myers was to become Consultant Psychologist to the
British Expeditionary Force and established four forward NYDN
centers and, later, five forward DAH centers in France, which
operated in addition to the hospitals in Britain (Greenberg, Hacker
Hughes, & Earnshaw, 2011).

The first appropriate intervention for combat stress (i.e., shell-shock)

was recognized, and the earliest cognitive restructuring techniques
were documented well ahead of the development of formal cognitive
theory (Howorth, 2000). Forward psychiatry was implemented, using
the concept of PIE (proximity, immediacy, and expectation of
recovery) and resulted in 40–80% of shell-shock cases returning to
combat duty (Jones & Wessely, 2003). These early-intervention
principles remain the foundation of combat stress intervention today
and the practice of deployed combat stress units in all branches of
service.

WWI also marked one of the first organized uses of chemical

warfare: mustard gas (Harris, 2005). This gave rise to observations
of “gas hysteria” and the recognition of a psychological response to
threats of this nature. Lessons learned in WWI continue to guide
mental health professionals in addressing the response to fears of
and current terrorist threats to employ chemical and biological
warfare.
In short, WWI was a time of major growth for the field of psychology,
the successes of which continue to have a profound impact on
psychology practice today. G. Stanley Hall (1919) foretold the future
when he commented on the work of psychologists in WWI, noting
that “only when the history of American psychology is recorded in
large terms will we realize the full significance of the work.”

WORLD WAR II

Between 1944 and 1946, the APA underwent significant

reorganization when it merged with the American Association for
Applied Psychology (AAAP). After this merger, the five sections of
AAAP became charter divisions in the new APA, and included
Division 19, the Division of Military Psychology (Gade & Drucker,
2000). In addition to stronger organizational foundations, World War
II (WWII) saw an influx of esteemed German and Jewish
psychologists to America, which strengthened the field of psychology
in the United States significantly.

Psychologists were in high demand during WWII and worked in all

branches of the military, as well as in such departments as the
National Research Council, Psychological Warfare Services, the
Veterans Administration (VA), and the Department of Commerce
(Gilgen, 1982). Work continued in psychometric testing, but a great
diversification of developments and expansion in psychology
occurred both during and immediately after the war. Boring (1945)
published a comprehensive text on the application of psychology to
the military, addressing such topics as adjustment to combat,
personnel selection, morale, sexuality, and psychological warfare.
He outlined seven fields of the “psychological business of the Army
and Navy”: observation, performance, selection, training, personal
adjustment, social relations, and opinion and propaganda (p. 3).
Books were also published for military members about the
application of psychological principles to enhance performance (e.g.,
National Research Council, 1943; Shaffer, 1944) and to develop
psychologically informed leadership abilities (Kraines, 1946) during
the war. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS, now the Central
Intelligence Agency) was developed, along with the first
psychological selection program for individuals seeking positions as
OSS operatives in espionage, counterespionage, and propaganda
(Banks, 1995; OSS Assessment Staff, 1948), modeled after the
selection procedures used by the German military for officers and
leadership positions (Ansbacher, 1949). Individuals who helped to
shape the field of psychology were once again employed by the
military, including B. F. Skinner, who trained pigeons to guide
missiles to targets prior to the existence of electronic guidance
systems (Gilgen, 1982), and Griffin, who studied the realities of using
bats to drop miniature explosives on Japan (Drumm & Ovre, 2011).
Skinner did not deploy his trained pigeons because of moral
objections, as the bombings were essentially suicide missions for the
birds (Roscoe, 1997). Griffin faced hurdles given the load-bearing
limitations of bats and a refocus of research efforts on the atomic
bomb (Drumm & Ovre, 2011).

Screening for military service was improved, and in 1940 the Army
General Classification Test (AGCT), developed by psychologists,
was introduced as a means of measuring the aptitude of recruits and
also of selecting men for specialist courses (Zeidner & Drucker,
1988) and for officer training (Harrell, 1992). The AGCT was taken
by more than 12 million men for classification purposes and was
valued over the intellectual testing format because of its minimization
of verbal ability and the influence of formal education, its emphasis
on spatial and quantitative reasoning, and its efficiency in
administration (Harrell, 1992). After WWII, uniform aptitude testing in
the military was mandated by the Selective Service Act of 1948, and
in 1950 the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was born.
Although every service branch utilized the AFQT, each also
continued to use their own screening procedures and instruments
until 1968 (Defense Manpower Data Center, 1999).
Much of the improvement of classification and screening procedures
was attributed to military psychologists’ opportunity to test large
groups of individuals from various geographical and cultural
backgrounds. This observation and subsequent recognition that test
results must be interpreted differently depending on an individual’s
background were clearly documented during WWII, marking some of
the first succinct reasoning for culturally fair psychological tests. An
additional impact was the construction of abbreviated testing
techniques, which could easily be applied in the civilian sector (Hunt
& Stevenson, 1946). WWII also saw increased use of personality
tests, and in 1943 the Army began using experimentally a newly
published test, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, as a
screening and selection instrument (Page, 1996; Uhlaner, 1967).

The increased emphasis on screening turned out to be a problem for

those experiencing what was then identified as combat fatigue or
combat exhaustion (combat stress). Because the thinking of the time
was that screening would exclude those prone to the development of
these problems, during WWII the United States did not initially utilize
the lessons learned in WWI about combat stress reactions (i.e., the
need for timely intervention near the frontline). Subsequently, little
forward mental health (i.e., mental health providers in the combat
zone) was practiced, favoring instead reliance on psychological
screening to avoid negative psychological reactions to the war. In
fact, in 1943, while the rejection rate based on psychological
screening was three to four times that of WWI, the incidence of
mental health disorders was three times that seen in WWI (Glass,
1969). General George Marshall, in 1943, “observed that there were
more individuals being discharged from the army for psychiatric
reasons than the number of individuals being inducted into the army”
(Allerton, 1969, p. 3). Between 1943 and 1945, 409,887 U.S.
servicemen were hospitalized for combat fatigue in overseas Army
hospitals: Of these, 127,660 were aeromedically evacuated to the
United States (Tischler, 1969). One unfortunate result of the
overemphasis on screening was that 40% of early discharges were
attributed to combat fatigue (Neill, 1993), but it solidified the military’s
recognition of the need for battlefield interventions and preparation
for the psychological toll of combat (U.S. Department of the Army,
1948). The overwhelming number of psychiatric casualties of WWII
also confirmed the notion that combat stress reactions were
generally normal responses to the emotional trauma and stressors of
war as opposed to a defect of character (Glass, 1969).

The United Kingdom recruited eight civilian psychologists to produce

tests to aid in the selection of candidates for the Royal Navy (RN).
As a second filter at the larger naval entry establishments, these
psychologists administered short, graded, and easy-to-score tests
comprising additional tests of general intelligence, mathematical
aptitude, and mechanical aptitude. At the end of 1943, the RN had a
staff of 10 “industrial” psychologists and approximately 300
assistants, mainly Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), who were
involved in the work of personnel selection.

In the British War Office, on the other hand, testers and nontechnical
officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) were employed within
the Army’s Directorate of Service Personnel, set up in July 1941 as
part of the Adjutant-General’s Department. All 19 psychologists—14
men and 5 women—were uniformed officers. Additionally, there were
a further 31 officers or NCO testers (26 men and 5 women), 584
nontechnical officers (531 men and 53 women), and 697 NCOs (494
men and 203 women). The tests included in the standard test battery
comprised assessments of general intelligence, arithmetic, verbal
and nonverbal skills, and “instructions” (comprehension). Tests used
for the selection for training in special trades or duties included U.S.
Army Morse Aptitude Tests for signalers; spelling, shorthand, and
typing tests for Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) clerks and
signalers; and assembly tests for drivers and mechanical trades.
More comprehensive testing was involved in officer selection, where
psychologists collaborated with military officers and psychiatrists in
the selection of officer candidates and were concerned with formal
psychological testing as well as the overall selection process. The
formal tests involved not only outdoor selection tasks, in which
psychologists and psychiatrists collaborated on test design with the
military staff of the War Office selection boards (WOSB), but also a
number of formal psychological tests, including intelligence tests,
biographical questionnaires, projective tests, and a more
complicated version of the traditional Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Test, together with tests of verbal intelligence and reasoning. Outside
the Adjutant-General’s Department, the War Office also employed a
small number of men with psychological training at the Directorate of
Scientific Research and the Directorate of Biological Research within
the War Office Medical Department.

During the war multiple articles were published on malingering as a

means to avoid military service or discipline, then also referred to as
gold-bricking, faking, or malingery. The attitude toward malingerers
at this time was summed up by Hulett (1941): “It is indeed
devastating to recognize as we must, that all men are not possessed
of manhood, and that the yellow streak down the backs of some of
our fellows is invisible to the unaided human eye” (p. 138). Common
methods of malingering were purported to be the induction of
symptoms with such substances as alcohol, epinephrine, sugar, and
cathartics; claims of pain or other sensory problems (e.g., blindness);
claims of motor dysfunction; feigning of insanity; self-mutilation;
exaggeration of real symptoms; or refusing to seek treatment for a
curable condition (Campbell, 1943). Campbell noted that malingerers
had psychopathic personalities and had no place in the military, with
the exception of “work battalions and [being] forced to serve under
strict and uncompromising discipline” (p. 354); they were the “leading
pension and compensation seekers” (p. 352). Bowers (1943) noted
four types of individuals with suspicious symptoms: hysteria,
inadequate personality, malingering, and mixed types. Ludwig (1944)
advocated for the widespread use of sodium amytal for the
differentiation between malingerers and bona fide patients. During
WWII, the top five mental health diagnostic categories were
neurosis, personality disorder, alcoholism, epilepsy, and insanity
(Stearns & Schwab, 1943). Notably, the inadequacy of the existing
mental health diagnostic system (Standard Nomenclature of
Diseases and Operations) for military use during WWII was a
significant impetus for the development of the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric
Association, 1952).

Head injury rehabilitation reemerged on a large scale as well

(Doherty & Runes, 1943), with many of the leading psychologists
later gaining prominence in the field of neuropsychology (Boake,
1989; for further information, see Kennedy, Boake, & Moore, 2010).
Unfortunately, once again, many of the rehabilitation centers were
closed after the war, and the field did not emerge again until the late
1960s and early 1970s, in response to the increasing number of
survivors of motor vehicle accidents (Boake, 1989).

Aviation psychology continued to evolve during WWII with the

development of the U.S. Army Air Forces Aviation Psychology
Program in 1941, the focus of which was to assist with the selection
of aviation personnel (Driskell & Olmstead, 1989). In addition to the
selection for such positions as pilots, navigators, and bombardiers,
research was also conducted on the service member–equipment
relationship, particularly with the new equipment that was developed
at that time (Koonce, 1984). In 1947 the U.S. Air Force became a
separate branch of the military, and industrial psychological research
flourished in the new service (Hendrix, 2003). Within the British Air
Ministry, there were 4 civilian advisors in psychology for training
methods, 17 Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) aircrew selection
officers, 14 ground crew selection officers, and nearly 100 junior
technical assistants. Tests used included measures of general
intelligence (including the Royal Air Force [RAF] GVK test of general,
verbal, and spatial/practical intelligence) and mathematics (for all
RAF and WAAF candidates), Morse aptitude, pilot aptitude and
observer (radio) aptitude (for aircrew candidates) and fluency,
technical information, Morse reading, and radar (for temperament).
In addition to these duties, Air Ministry psychologists also
collaborated on a number of research projects from 1937 onward,
including tests of reaction time and deftness of speed of hands and
feet (the Sensory Motor Apparatus to assess flying aptitude and the
Angular Perception Test to assess skills in making final approaches
and landing aircraft). In addition, the Air Ministry, at the beginning of
the war, had been using two tests: a group intelligence test prior to
the selection board assessment and experimental preselection
aptitude tests to try to determine the sort of flying for which a recruit
would be best suited.

Across all three British services, psychologists were involved in the

design and interpretation of a variety of questionnaires and
interviews: the layout, arrangement, and display of operational
equipment, particularly in RAF operations rooms but also with
respect to, for example, the radius and position of turning handles in
gunnery controls, as well as the design and use of a number of
trainers and simulators for pilots, gunners and air gunners, and
bomb aimers. Psychologists were also involved in work connected
with a wide range of visual aspects of operational duties, including
the use of goggles, instrument panel lighting, and night flying. Other
more operational work involved advising in the special adaptation
and modification of a variety of weapon systems. Job analyses and
time and motion studies formed another aspect of wartime
psychologists’ work: for example, the job analyses of WRNS radio
mechanics, air mechanics, and torpedo mechanics for the admiralty
and the organization of WOSBs for potential ATS officers for the War
Ministry; time and motion studies of gun laying and gun drills; and
studies of extreme climatic conditions in tropical and Arctic
conditions (Hacker Hughes, 2007).

Following WWII, the field of aviation psychology grew dramatically,

affecting practices of civilian airlines and creating new roles for
aviation psychologists. These psychologists are now involved in a
wide range of activities, including research and identification of
individuals involved in terrorist activities, aircraft accident
investigations (Koonce, 1984), assessment and selection of flight
personnel, performing aeromedical psychological evaluations, and
continuing research into human factors issues.
WWII was also the first and only time that nuclear weapons were
used. Survivors developed both acute and chronic psychological
reactions, including withdrawal, severe fear reactions,
psychosomatic symptoms, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD;
Salter, 2001). Beyond the effect of the bombings on the people of
Japan, the images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 continue to
instill fear into societies threatened with such use today. Concerns
mount about the capacity of terrorists to obtain and use these
weapons (Knudson, 2001). In a similar vein, WWII was known for
Japanese suicide bombers, or kamikaze pilots. Kamikaze attacks
accounted for a large proportion of the sailors who were wounded in
action, second only to attacks that involved multiple weapons (Blood,
1992). The threat of suicide bombers has arisen as a heightened
concern, and some of the lessons learned in WWII are applicable to
this modern-day weapon (see Chapter 13, this volume).

In the United States, military clinical psychology emerged during

WWII, with the first military psychologists assigned to hospitals
(McGuire, 1990; Uhlaner, 1967). Following the war, the growth of
clinical psychology in the military continued. Because there were too
few physicians and psychiatrists to meet the emotional needs of
veterans, psychologists provided both group and individual therapy
in VA facilities (Cranston, 1986). In 1946 the first psychology
internship programs were established, enrolling 200 interns within
the VA system. These efforts resulted in increased acceptance of
psychologists, not just as researchers and experts in assessment but
also as mental health providers (Phares & Trull, 1997). As after
WWI, psychologists were demobilized following WWII; however, in
1947 they obtained permanent active-duty status (McGuire, 1990;
Uhlaner, 1967). Two years later, the first military clinical psychology
internship programs were established in the Army, one of which was
at the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC.

THE KOREAN WAR

During the Korean War psychologists served in several new
positions: in service overseas, in combat zones, and on hospital
ships (McGuire, 1990). The war saw significant use of torture, as
well as the execution of U.S. prisoners of war, and gave rise to the
concept of brainwashing (Ursano & Rundell, 1995). U.S. troops were
exposed to forced marches, severe malnutrition, inhumane
treatment, and continuous propaganda and “reeducation” on
communism (Ritchie, 2002). The Korean experience prompted the
military to make significant changes in survival schools, or training
programs to help service members who are captured as prisoners of
war. Repatriated prisoners of war from the Korean conflict are
credited for the inception of the survival, evasion, resistance, and
escape (SERE) model of training currently provided to U.S. service
members whose duties place them at high risk of enemy capture
(e.g., special forces, aviation personnel). The SERE training
paradigm and psychology’s role therein are covered in depth in
Chapter 12 (this volume), and information is presented about
prisoners of war from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam (see also Moore,
2010).

Unfortunately, early in the war the principle of treating combat stress

near the frontline to enable military members to return to duty was
not possible to implement because of the abrupt start of the conflict
and the lack of prepared support units (McGuire, 1990). As a result,
250 troops per 1,000 were declared psychological casualties.
However, the lessons of WWII regarding the need for mental health
providers in the combat zone were not forgotten (Glass, 1969). Later
in the war, mental health providers were deployed, and 80% (Ritchie,
2003) to 90% (Jones, 1995) of combat fatigue cases fully returned to
duty. After the first year of combat in Korea, a rotation policy of 9
months in combat was implemented, which also helped to
significantly reduce the number of psychiatric casualties (Glass,
1969).

Psychology’s role in testing did not diminish during the Korean War.
The Army and Air Force collaborated on a technical manual outlining
the roles of the military psychologist and proper use of psychological
tests (U.S. Departments of the Army and the Air Force, 1951), with
such distinguished contributors as David Wechsler and Paul Meehl
(Uhlaner, 1967). Instruments created to select individuals for specific
jobs and officer programs continued to be developed.

Following the Korean War, the Army began to devote significant

resources to the study of motivation, leadership, morale, and
psychological warfare (Uhlaner, 1967), and the concept of human
systems related to military functioning increased in popularity
(Zeidner & Drucker, 1988). The Air Force and Navy also created
research centers for the study of what was then called human
engineering. The goal of increasing the performance of military
personnel given different equipment, various physical states (e.g.,
fatigue), and various environments gave rise to increased research
in human factors engineering (Roscoe, 1997; Uhlaner, 1967).

THE VIETNAM WAR

After the Korean War, the U.S. Air Force implemented the Airman
Qualifying Examination in 1958 for administration to high school
students. Shortly thereafter, the Army and Navy developed their own
group ability tests, and ultimately in 1968 the Armed Services
Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) was implemented to make a
truly uniform aptitude tool (Defense Manpower Data Center, 1999).
The ASVAB has become an integral screening and aptitude tool for
military recruits, and it has been regularly used by military
neuropsychologists over the years for the assessment of head-
injured service members, as its composite score is a reliable
indicator of premorbid intellectual functioning (Kennedy, Kupke, &
Smith, 2000; Welsh, Kucinkas, & Curran, 1990).

As in Korea, psychologists served in combat zones during Vietnam.

Forward mental health was practiced from the beginning of the war,
and low levels of traditional combat stress were seen. Compared
with the psychiatric casualty rates of WWII (28–101 per 1,000 troops
per year) and Korea (37 per 1,000 troops per year), troops in
Vietnam exhibited very low rates, 10–12 per 1,000 troops per year
(Allerton, 1969). As in no other conflict before or since, however,
there was an extraordinary amount of substance abuse (see Chapter
10, this volume). Also, a higher proportion of character disorders
were diagnosed during the war, possibly related to the
characteristics of individuals who could not avoid the draft. In other
words, those with more resources were able to obtain education
deferments or other exemptions to avoid military service (McGuire,
1990). In addition, the spirit of the times in the United States was
highly tolerant of drug use, and this probably affected those serving
in Vietnam as well. Because of the large numbers of troops who
were abusing substances and had to be medically evacuated from
the theater, mandatory drug testing was implemented and
opportunities for alcohol and drug rehabilitation were increased.

In comparison to U.S. methods, the Vietnamese army also

implemented psychiatric services for its troops. The practice of
mental health care was still in its infancy at the time of the war, and
local medical providers were ill prepared for psychiatric casualties.
During the war, the Vietnamese army utilized one hospital, the
Psychiatric Service of Cong Hoa General Hospital, to provide care
for its servicemen. This hospital was staffed by one psychiatrist, one
internist, one health technician, one nurse, two corpsmen, and two
civilians who worked as guard and orderly. The psychiatric service
had 80 beds and regularly maintained 80–100 inpatients during the
war. In addition, 10–15 outpatients were seen daily. Treatments
consisted of psychopharmacology (e.g., chlorpromazine,
thioridazine, diazepam), electric shock, and very limited supportive
therapy to select patients (Nguyen, 1969). Although rates for
admission remained low in consideration of the total size of the
Vietnamese army (which grew from 150,000 early in the war to
700,000 by 1967), this is partially hypothesized to be due to the
limited resources for treatment (and documentation), shortage of
personnel, transportation problems, misattribution of the origin of
symptoms, and cultural differences in the conceptualization of some
issues (e.g., suicidal thoughts and actions). Although barriers to care
were significant, Nguyen (1969) hypothesized that some character
traits of the Vietnamese people as a group may have made them
less susceptible to the development of combat neuroses, namely
protective personality characteristics fostered by strong family ties
and loyalties, lack of awareness of psychiatric symptoms, and
attitudes toward those who adopted a sick role.

Vietnam was a significantly complex war, involving the use of

weapons technologies not seen before that could inflict significant
destruction, even on the level of the individual soldier (Zeidner &
Drucker, 1988). American military members faced a well-trained
force and were confronted with challenging jungle warfare as well as
horrific prisoner of war experiences (see Moore, 2010). Military
rotation policies at the time dictated specific tour lengths for
individuals as opposed to rotations of entire units, resulting in poor
unit cohesion because of the constant arrivals and departures of
personnel (Zeidner & Drucker, 1988). Compounding these problems,
the attitude on the home front regarding the utility of the war was
largely unsupportive of the troops. The psychological impact of all
these factors is hypothesized to have resulted in high rates of PTSD,
with many surviving veterans still suffering symptoms today.

Following Vietnam, the military recognized the need for a formal

response to noncombat critical incidents, such as the deaths of
service members from training accidents or suicide. In 1978 the
Portsmouth Naval Hospital Psychiatry Department organized a
Special Psychiatric Rapid Intervention Team, consisting of
psychologists, psychiatrists, chaplains, nurses, and corpsmen
(McCaughey, 1987), to respond to such critical incidents as training
accidents, suicides, natural disasters, and bombings (for modern
disaster response, see Chapter 7, this volume).

OPERATIONS DESERT SHIELD AND DESERT STORM

Military personnel in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
were exposed to multiple combat stressors: greater numbers of
enemy forces, possible use of chemical and biological weapons,
environmental challenges (i.e., desert exposure, sandstorms), lethal
animal life, inadequate or insufficient hygiene opportunities, and a
culture that did not accept American values (Martin, Sparacino, &
Belenky, 1996). Although there was great capacity for significant
stress casualties, the limited number of wounded and killed
American troops and the availability of forward mental health support
resulted in relatively few combat stress casualties; however, rates of
PTSD have increased over time in these veterans. In addition to
forward mental health support on the ground during the Persian Gulf
War, for the first time a psychologist was deployed on a Navy aircraft
carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, which subsequently had no
incidence of medical evacuation for mental health reasons (Wood,
Koffman, & Arita, 2003).

Despite good mental health support, Gulf War syndrome or Gulf War
illness, an ambiguous conglomeration of physical and psychological
symptoms, was unique to the Persian Gulf War. Years of research
have not been able to characterize these presenting problems as a
specific syndrome with specific symptoms (Bieliauskas & Turner,
2000; Everitt, Ismail, David, & Wessely, 2002). Gulf War syndrome
was hypothesized to originate from vaccinations, exposure to toxic
substances (e.g., smoke from burning oil wells), and psychological
trauma. Years of studying Gulf War veterans have largely led to the
conclusion that, although risk factors for the syndrome were
inoculations and exposures to noxious chemicals and psychological
trauma, the persistence of the syndrome is the result of previous
psychological distress and individual veterans’ attribution of their
symptoms (i.e., the belief that they were exposed to toxic agents;
Hotopf, David, Hull, Nikalaou, Unwin, & Wessely, 2004; Stuart,
Ursano, Fullerton, Norwood, & Murray, 2003). Despite the lack of a
clear definition of Gulf War syndrome, veterans who have
unexplained symptoms that began during or after the war are given
financial and health benefits (Campion, 1996), and research into this
issue continues.

PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS (MILITARY OPERATIONS

OTHER THAN WAR)

Peacekeeping missions have their own unique characteristics and

impact on military personnel. Stress control units have been
regularly utilized for those deployed for peacekeeping operations
since Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992 (Bacon &
Staudenmeier, 2003), given that peacekeeping forces often face an
unfriendly populace, come under fire, live in unhygienic conditions,
and are separated from their families (Hall, Cipriano, & Bicknell,
1997). In addition, peacekeeping missions put more strain on
individuals who may be vulnerable, have a preexisting mental health
condition, abuse alcohol, or are experiencing relationship problems.
These have been deemed risk factors for suicide in peacekeepers
specifically (Wong et al., 2001).

Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti saw significant stress among

U.S. troops, including three suicides in the first 30 days of the
mission (Hall, 1996). This reinforced the need for frontline mental
health providers to administer preventive and early intervention
measures for military personnel supporting peacekeeping missions
(Hall et al., 1997). With operational stress support, 94% of soldiers
presenting with psychological symptoms during Operation Uphold
Democracy were returned to full duty without the need for medical
evacuation (Hall, 1996).

Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia saw an unprecedented number

of military mental health professionals on hand for suicide
prevention, stress management, critical incident debriefings, and
clinical care in country (Pincus & Benedek, 1998). Mental health
providers made advances during this mission in learning to increase
awareness of available services and in destigmatizing help-seeking
behavior by offering a comprehensive outreach program (Bacon &
Staudenmeier, 2003).

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

Military psychologists continue to make history. Today’s war has

created an immediate need for better understanding of combat
stress in the context of modern warfare. The pervasive use of
improvised explosive devices and rocket and mortar attacks is
designed to cause psychological injuries as well as physical wounds.
The frequent blasts and explosions have once again brought up the
issue of blast concussion, first examined in WWI. Across the
services, programs are in place to educate service members on blast
concussion and combat stress, and research is beginning to emerge.
In addition, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment are integrated into
post-deployment health readiness programs throughout the military.
Military neuropsychologists have made major contributions in
establishing guidelines for assessment and treatment of blast
concussion.

Psychologists also continue to expand their roles, including support

for conventional and special operations. As early as October 2001,
psychologists were deployed to main and forward-staging bases
supporting Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). In addition,
psychologists have served at forward-fire bases, providing
expeditionary support to soldiers and Marines and consultation for
commanders in both OEF and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF).
Psychologists have also treated enemy combatants through the
Global War on Terror, both in theater and in the detention facility at
Guantanamo Bay (see Chapter 14, this volume).

Operationally, military psychologists continue to provide integral

support in repatriation operations, selection and assessment for
special operations, hostage negotiation, and human factors
research, and roles have expanded dramatically in
counterintelligence, counterterrorism, and interrogation support.

Other advances include the inception of prescription privileges for

psychologists starting in 1994, when the first trial
psychopharmacology fellows graduated from training (Sammons,
Levant, & Paige, 2003), to 2005, when the psychopharmacology
fellowship was established at the Tripler Army Medical Center in
Hawaii. The military’s success in training psychologists as
prescribers has served as a model for other psychologists (Dittman,
2003). Two states (New Mexico and Louisiana) and one U.S.
territory (Guam) have enacted laws granting prescribing privileges to
appropriately trained psychologists.

Psychologists have been permanent ship’s company on aircraft

carriers since 1998, and the Psychology at Sea program has been
successful (Wood et al., 2003). Service aboard these ships can be
mentally stressful to the crew and is at times referred to as working
“on top of a nuclear reactor and under an airport.” Each carrier is
assigned one psychologist, who serves not only the carrier but also
the battle group that accompanies it, comprising a total of
approximately 12,000 people. As the sole mental health provider,
with assistance from a neuropsychiatric technician and one or two
substance abuse counselors, psychologists have had to move away
from traditional forms of therapy. The focus is on prevention,
interventions that involve the individual’s chain of command, and
truly creative means of addressing the needs of such a large and
unique population. This very successful model of
expeditionary/embedded psychology has been followed by
Operational Stress Control & Readiness providers who deploy in the
Marine Corps with assigned units. This new mode of battlefield care
is tackling stigma and shows promise in the arenas of problem
prevention and early detection.

SUMMARY
Another Random Scribd Document
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Naturaleza
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Title: Naturaleza de las cosas: Versión en prosa del poema «De

rerum natura»

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Nota de transcripción
Índice
 TITO LUCRECIO CARO

NATURALEZA DE LAS COSAS

VERSIÓN EN PROSA DEL POEMA «DE RERUM NATURA»

POR

MANUEL RODRÍGUEZ-NAVAS

MADRID: 1892
 Es propiedad del traductor.

Agustín Avrial.—Impr. de la Comp. de Impr. y Libreros.

S. Bernardo, 92.—Teléfono núm. 3.674.
 NOTICIA BIOGRÁFICA

Según los datos más fidedignos que se han podido reunir, Tito
Lucrecio Caro nació, hace ahora 1988 años, en el 658 de la
fundación de Roma, correspondiente á la Olimpiada 171.ª, en
ocasión en que eran cónsules Cn. Domicio Ahenobarbus y C. Cassius
Longino: después de estudiar en Roma pasó á Atenas, donde siguió
con Filodemo y uno de los dos Ptolomeos de Alejandría, las lecciones
de Zenón, discípulo de Apolodoro, sucesor, este último, de Basílides
y de Dionisio en la dirección de la escuela epicúrea: volvió á Roma
cuando su amigo C. Memmio obtuvo el cargo de pretor, y acompañó
á este mismo, en unión con el poeta Catulo y el gramático Curcio
Nicetas, al gobierno de Bitinia: bien pronto, deseoso de entregarse
completamente al estudio de los fenómenos de la Naturaleza y de la
vida, regresó á Roma, donde, entristecido con el espectáculo que
ofrecía la sociedad, agitada por mezquinos intereses,
preocupaciones, odios, ambiciones desenfrenadas y guerras
intestinas, vivió alejado en absoluto de las contiendas públicas hasta
la edad de cuarenta y tres años en que murió. Eusebio de Cesarea
cree que se suicidó, pero este parecer no descansa en ningún sólido
fundamento.
El poema didáctico De Rerum Natura, de Lucrecio, es la obra más
notable, más bella, más grandiosa y de más difícil empeño que nos
legó la antigüedad clásica; porque antes de Lucrecio y después de él
hubo en Grecia y en Roma poetas que trataran asuntos agradables
en versos harmoniosos llenos de encanto y sonoridad; pero no hubo
quien penetrara en los misterios de la Naturaleza é intentara, como
él, desvanecerlos con observaciones profundas, muchas de las
cuales han sido confirmadas en nuestros días por la Física, la
Química, la Astronomía y la Geología; también abundaron los poetas
que utilizaran y fomentaran las supersticiones del paganismo, pero
solamente Lucrecio las combatió con denuedo en forma poética y
supo arrostrar con ese motivo las iras y el encono de los interesados
en sostenerlas: ¿quién duda que los poetas, lo mismo en Grecia que
en Roma, siempre halagaron á los poderosos y á los ignorantes,
desfiguraron la verdad con ficciones de todo género, inventaron
fábulas que eran mejor recibidas cuanto más extravagantes eran, y
de hechos naturales interpretados arbitrariamente crearon una
multitud de fantásticos genios que producían cuantiosas utilidades á
los mismos sacerdotes y pontífices que de ellos se reían? Pero
Lucrecio no quiso vender su adhesión ni aun siquiera su silencio al
poder ó á la ignorancia, ni quiso valerse de su talento en propio
beneficio, ni entregar su maravilloso estro á disposición de la
mentira sistematizada, y, por lo contrario, puso todo su empeño en
estudiar sin prejuicios y en comunicar sin ambigüedades á sus
conciudadanos el fruto de sus laboriosas investigaciones, aunque
sabía que al llevar á cabo su empresa, por lo que ésta perjudicaba á
los intereses constituidos, había de ser blanco de toda clase de
injuria y había de perder todo reposo y la esperanza de todo
bienestar; pues entonces, como hoy y como siempre, los goces de la
fortuna y los beneficios sociales estaban reservados al adulador
envilecido y al defensor más ó menos ingenuo, pero interesado
siempre, de las costumbres y de las instituciones dominantes. En
Grecia y en Roma los poetas atendían en primer término á sus
personales conveniencias; Lucrecio fué el único, sin duda, que sirvió
desinteresadamente á la verdad; pudo estar equivocado, pero fué
siempre sincero.
Ahí está su obra literaria: en ella se muestra como filósofo
moralista que no puede transigir con los vicios y con los dolores
sociales creados al amparo de fantásticos dioses capaces para
favorecer la hipocresía, la falsedad, la guerra, la injusticia, la
opresión del fuerte sobre el débil, pero inútiles para el bien y para el
progreso de la humanidad, y dirige incesantes y certeros golpes
contra toda forma de superstición y contra todo pretendido infalible
dogma. Cuanto Lucrecio combatió —los dioses del paganismo, la
avaricia de sacerdotes que defendían en público lo que en secreto
censuraban, la creencia en la perpetuidad de nuestro planeta y en la
intervención de númenes caprichosos en los actos humanos— cayó
por tierra cuatro siglos después de la muerte de aquel egregio
poeta; y mucho de lo que Lucrecio afirmó —la composición atómica
y la porosidad de los cuerpos, las atracciones y repulsiones
moleculares, la gravitación universal, la existencia de muchos
mundos en el espacio infinito, las leyes constantes y eternas de la
vida— probado está por la ciencia moderna. Jamás, jamás negaron
Lucrecio ni otro alguno de los fieles discípulos de Epicuro, la
existencia de un Supremo Principio de todo ser, origen de toda
realidad y fundamento de todo conocer; pero en cambio, en la
exposición de su doctrina se encuentran máximas de moral purísima
que San Ambrosio y San Agustín copiaron, y que hicieron á Lucrecio
lo mismo que á Epicuro, merecedores de honores divinos que los
pueblos de la antigüedad les tributaron. ¿Dónde, en qué lugar, en
qué sitio, con qué ocasión hizo consistir Lucrecio la felicidad humana
en los deleites materiales, según han afirmado en los últimos
tiempos, desde el cardenal Polignac y el abate Delille hasta nuestro
eximio Castelar, y con éstos una caterva de hombres ignorantes con
pretensiones de eruditos?
La obra de Lucrecio consta de siete mil cuatrocientos treinta y un
versos distribuidos en seis cantos ó libros, en los que hay
descripciones bellísimas, cuadros maravillosos presentados con una
fuerza de colorido y una riqueza de imágenes que arroban el ánimo:
solamente Virgilio puede ser comparado con Lucrecio; si aquél es
más elegante, más harmonioso, éste es más expresivo, más severo;
si el uno fascina la imaginación, el otro subyuga el entendimiento. El
sacrificio de Ifigenia en el canto I; la ansiedad de la vaca
abandonada que busca intranquila su novillo, en el canto II; las
reprensiones que la Naturaleza dirige al hombre temeroso de la
muerte, en el tercer canto; las atrevidas é intraducibles
descripciones eróticas del libro IV; la formación de las sociedades en
el libro V; los efectos del rayo, de las erupciones volcánicas y de la
peste de Atenas en el libro VI son cuadros admirables, grandiosos,
en que palpita la vida. Bien pudo Virgilio decir de Lucrecio:

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas

Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum,
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari.

Y Ovidio:

Carmina sublimis tunc sunt peritura Lucreti

Exitio terras cum dabit una dies.

*
* *

La versión que sigue á esta breve nota, es la primera que se hace

en lengua castellana y contiene, sin duda, numerosos defectos: el
traductor ha tenido, sin embargo, en cuenta para realizar su difícil
empeño, los comentarios del filósofo inglés Creech, los estudios de
Gassendi, las citas de Lagrange, las observaciones de Pongerville, la
traducción de Marchetti y las dos portuguesas de Lima Leitao y de
Machado Ferraz.

Madrid 6 de Octubre de 1892.

 NATURALEZA DE LAS COSAS

LIBRO PRIMERO

1. Æneadum genitrix, hominum Divumque voluptas...

Madre de los Romanos, encanto de los dioses y de los hombres,

pulcra Venus[1]: Tú alientas los astros que en el ámbito de los cielos
giran, las fértiles tierras y el inmenso Océano; todo animal por ti vive
y por ti goza de la acción benéfica del Sol; ante la presencia tuya el
cielo viste galas, huyen los vientos, la tierra produce olorosas flores,
el mar se riza, el espléndido Olimpo llena de luz el Universo, la
primavera brilla y el céfiro fecundo, libre, vuela; todos los seres que
llenan los espacios, nutridos por tu influencia, festejan tu venida ¡oh
diosa!; la gente alegre baila en el ameno prado ó á nado pasa
arrebatados ríos; cuanto vive y siente, atraído por tus goces, te
sigue hacia donde tú lo impulsas; y lo mismo en el dilatado mar que
en los empinados montes, en los intranquilos ríos que en los
pacíficos campos, y en el obscuro bosque, mansión de aves, todos
los corazones por ti arden en irresistible llama de amor, y con
estímulo deleitoso los siglos se propagan.
[1] Según Plutarco, Venus representa la fecundidad; y
Marte, citado algunas líneas después, la fuerza destructora.

21. Quæ quoniam rerum naturam sola gubernas...

 Y puesto que influyes en el mundo soberanamente, de tal modo
que en él sin ti nada tendría vida y nada sería agradable, inspira
estos versos que escribo destinados al estudio de la Naturaleza de
las cosas, y dedicados á nuestro Memmio[2], á quien adornar quisiste
en otros días con tus más nobles dones: por él ¡oh diosa! demando
tu favor. Haz, entre tanto, que los horrores militares duerman en la
tierra y en el mar, y como tienes poder para conservar á los mortales
paz tranquila, ya que el gran Mavorte[3] que á su gusto rige las
batallas suele quedar en tus brazos preso y de intenso amor herido,
cuando sediento de contemplar tu albo pecho, inclinada la cabeza y
embebecido en tus ojos en éxtasis prolongado tenga de tus labios
pendiente su voluntad, y cuando desfallecido en tu regazo yazga y
tu dulce persuasión le quebrante la ira, pídele que conceda á los
Romanos paz serena; porque ni yo podría en época de aflicciones
para mi patria dedicarme con ánimo reposado á entonar mis cantos,
ni tampoco el ilustre Memmio podría oirme, impulsado á las armas
por la común defensa.
[2] Memmio Gemelo, ciudadano romano que fué pretor de
Bitinia y después vivió desterrado en Atenas, donde es fama
que recibió algunas cartas de M. T. Cicerón.

[3] Marte (Mars) es síncopa de Mavorte (Mavors).

44. Quod superest, vacuas aures mihi, Memmiada, et te...

Para las lecciones que en forma de dádivas te dedico, reclamo tu

atención libre de prejuicios y reposada, querido Memmio; no
desprecies las enseñanzas que en ellas se contienen sin haberlas
antes contrastado con razón serena: voy á disertar contigo acerca
del orden de lo infinito y de la esencia de los dioses; voy á explicarte
lo que entiendo respecto á los elementos de que la Naturaleza[4] ha
constituido las cosas y á los cuales éstas revierten cada vez que
pierden una forma, y considera que doy el nombre de elementos á
esos simplicísimos cuerpos generadores que son los primeros
principios de todo cuanto existe[5].
[4] Lucrecio usó en muchos lugares de su poema la palabra
Naturaleza para significar la vida universal, el principio del
Ser, es decir, Dios, Dios único, potencia infinita, posibilidad
absoluta, fundamento de toda realidad.

[5] Deliberadamente, sin duda, Lucrecio no empleó ni una

sola vez en todo su extenso poema la palabra átomo, que
encierra el asunto más detenidamente estudiado en su obra.

56. Omnis enim per se Divum natura necesse est...

Por su esencia, los númenes deben disfrutar eterna vida en ocio

imperturbable: indiferentes á nosotros y á nuestras cosas, exentos
de peligros y de aflicciones, ricos por su propia naturaleza puesto
que nada necesitan, son insensibles á nuestras virtudes é
indiferentes á nuestra ira[6].
[6] De igual modo Séneca se expresó en su epístola XCV.

63. Humana ante oculos fœde cum vita jaceret...

Cuando la humanidad, abatida por el terror, se humillaba ante el

aspecto horrible del fanatismo que desde las regiones aéreas dirigía
á los mortales tremendas amenazas, un sabio de Grecia fué el
primero[7] que se atrevió á resistir al monstruo y á levantar contra él
los ojos: ni la fama de los dioses, ni rayos, ni temeroso estruendo de
las concavidades del espacio pudieron abatirlo; por lo contrario, los
obstáculos estimularon su energía y abrió las cerradas puertas de la
Naturaleza; su genio vencedor pasó adelante y arrojó á distancia las
murallas flamígeras del mundo: entonces escrutó la inmensidad con
mirada vigorosa, y vencedor de ella nos dió á conocer lo que existe y
lo que no puede existir en el mundo, así como descubrió que toda
potencialidad de los seres está limitada por su peculiar esencia; de
este modo la superstición fué á su vez subyugada y la victoria nos
elevó á lo infinito.
[7] Epicuro, natural de Samos, donde nació el año 341 antes
de la Era cristiana.

71. Illud in is rebus vereor ne fortè rearis...

Temo, sin embargo, te figures que voy á iniciarte en protervas

doctrinas y á franquearte el camino del mal; por lo contrario, la
superstición ha producido muchas veces crímenes y sucesos
execrables: por ella varones famosos de Grecia, capitanes fuertes,
profanaron en Aulide[8] con la sangre de Ifigenia el altar de Diana. La
cabellera virginal recogida con fúnebre banda fluctuante; junto al
altar el afligido padre; al lado los sacerdotes que ocultan los
puñales; alrededor el pueblo que lloroso contempla á la joven; ésta,
muda por el terror y agobiada por el espanto, cae sobre sus
rodillas... á la infeliz no sirve ser la primera que diera nombre de
padre al rey... impías manos de ministros la levantan y la conducen
trémula ante las aras, no para que celebre solemnes ritos de
Himeneo acompañada por lucido cortejo, sino para que muera casta
pero deshonestamente bajo los golpes de su mismo padre, en el
instante en que amor la destinaba á tierno esposo; y muere para
que el viento no estorbe la feliz partida de la flota griega. ¡Á qué
horribles males la superstición puede llevar á los hombres!
[8] Aulide, puerto de Beocia, donde se celebró el sacrificio
de Ifigenia, hija de Agamenón y de Clitemnestra. Agamenón,
jefe de los ejércitos griegos en la guerra de Troya.

103. Tutemet à nobis jam quovis tempore, vatum...

 Tú mismo, dominado por los discursos terroríficos de los vates,
¿querrás separarte de mi lado? ¿Supondrás acaso que también yo
puedo fingirte delirios que cambien las reglas de tu vida ó turben tus
dichas con temores? Y no te he de censurar; porque si los hombres
comprendiesen cuál es el término cierto de sus infortunios, bien
podrían resistir á las religiones y despreciar las amenazas de los
vates; pero en la actualidad no hay saber bastante ni motivo
suficiente para rechazarlas, mucho más cuando se temen penas
eternas después de la muerte; pues todavía se ignora cuál sea la
naturaleza del alma, si es creada con el cuerpo ó si á éste se agrega
en algún momento, é igualmente se ignora si con el cuerpo fallece ó
si va á visitar las extensas y negras lagunas del Orco[9], ó bien si
merced á divina disposición emigra para el cuerpo de varios
animales, como cantó nuestro Ennio, primero digno de eterno
renombre que del risueño Helicón bajó á Italia coronado con laurel
inmarcesible. En versos inmortales Ennio describió el tenebroso
infierno, donde no existen almas ni cuerpos, sino espectros y pálidas
imágenes: allí se le acercó la sombra del siempre floreciente
Homero, y con efusión cariñosa entre lágrimas de recuerdos le
explicó la naturaleza de las cosas[10].
[9] El Orco, obscuridad, muerte, infierno. La India suministró
á Grecia y á Italia elementos para su lenguaje y base para su
mitología.

[10] Dante Alighieri debió tomar de estas palabras de

Lucrecio la idea para el Infierno de su Divina Comedia.

126. Quapropter bene cum, superis de rebus, habenda...

Antes de investigar las leyes referentes á las etéreas regiones, al

curso del Sol y de la Luna y á los fenómenos terrestres, debemos
inquirir la naturaleza de nuestra alma, la de nuestra vitalidad y la de
todos los objetos que de cerca se nos ofrecen cuando estamos en
posesión de nuestras facultades, y que después, cuando nos
hallamos abatidos por enfermedad ó subyugados por el sueño, nos
perturban hasta el punto de que lleguemos á pensar que ven y oyen
después de muertos aquellos seres cuyos despojos cubren ya la
tierra.

137. Nec me animi fallit, Graiorum obscura reperta...

Ni me engaño si pienso cuán difícil sea explicar en versos latinos

las investigaciones de los Griegos consideradas obscuras (propósito
que ha de obligarme á emplear palabras nuevas), ya por deficiencias
del idioma, ya por la novedad del asunto. Pero tu virtud por una
parte, y por otra el suave goce que me promete el trato de tu
amistad, me animan á emprender la difícil labor y me inducen á
velar durante las apacibles noches para escoger las frases que he de
emplear en mis versos, destinados á iluminar tu inteligencia con
clara luz que te permita penetrar en las cosas ocultas.

147. Hunc igitur terrorem animi, tenebrasque necesse est...

Y pues no se disipan aquel terror y aquellas tinieblas del espíritu

ni con el lucir del Sol, ni con la brillantez del día, sino con el estudio
reflexivo de la Naturaleza en cuanto ésta se nos ofrece, sírvanos de
exordio este principio: De nada nunca puede producirse
maravillosamente algo. Ahora, muchas veces, los mortales,
dominados por el temor, cuando no pueden explicarse las causas de
los fenómenos que se realizan en la tierra ó en la inmensidad del
espacio, las suponen dependientes de la voluntad de númenes; pero
cuando se persuadan de que nada puede formarse de nada,
emprenderán obra de investigación que les hará conocer cómo
pueden producirse los seres sin la intervención de dioses.
 160. Nam si de nihilo fierent, ex omnibus rebus...

Y si de nada surgiesen los seres, también de éstos confusamente

podrían formarse diversos géneros, sin necesidad de gérmenes: así,
del mar podrían nacer hombres y de la tierra la estirpe de escamas y
los volátiles; en los aires se producirían tímidos corderos, toros y
caballos; las fieras, originadas por el acaso, poblarían desiertos y
tierras cultivadas; los mismos frutos no se producirían siempre de los
mismos árboles, sino todos aquéllos de todos éstos brotarían;
porque si no existieran elementos formativos diferenciados, ¿qué
orden podría suponerse en la generación? Pero cada ser es creado,
nace y toma rumbo en los espacios de la vida merced á un propio
determinado germen, y tiene la peculiar naturaleza que corresponde
á los elementos que lo constituyen; luego todo, no de todo
indiferentemente se produce, sino cada ser de otro que tenga
adecuada virtualidad.

175. Præterea, cur Vere rosam, frumenta calore...

Después de todo, ¿por qué en primavera vemos la rosa, las

espigas en tiempo de calor, en el húmedo otoño las vides, si no es
porque en épocas fijas se congregan los elementos propios de cada
especie y permiten á las jóvenes plantas exponer impunemente á la
luz del día sus tiernos tallos, porque las condiciones del medio que
les rodea son adecuadas para su vida? Es lo cierto que si de nada los
seres se formasen, nacerían súbitamente en épocas inciertas y en
todos sitios, porque la potencia productora funcionaría sin orden.

185. Nec porrò augendis rebus spatio foret usus...

Y por igual motivo, si éstos á la nada se debieran, no sería

necesaria la acción del tiempo sobre las semillas; entre la infancia y
la juventud no habría relación continua; de la tierra los árboles ya
corpulentos brotarían. Pero es patente que no es ese el orden
natural: todo crece paulatinamente de germen propio y con sujeción
á las condiciones de su especie; de tal modo, que puedes comprobar
cómo el desarrollo íntegro de cada ser es dependiente del
crecimiento de la materia de que el mismo ser está constituido.

195. Huc accedit, uti sine certis imbribus anni...

Aún más sucede: la tierra no podría dar buenos productos si

careciera del beneficio de lluvias periódicas, y los animales, privados
de alimentos, no podrían propagar su especie ni sostener la vida.
Puedes reconocer que son muchos los elementos simples, comunes
á innumerables cuerpos, de modo igual que integran á muchas
palabras unas mismas letras, antes que admitir la existencia de cosa
alguna independiente de aquellas substancias primarias. ¿Por qué no
ha producido la Naturaleza hombres que atravesasen á pié el
Océano, como si éste fuera un vado, ó que pudieran deshacer con
las manos las montañas, ó que mantuvieran la vida largos siglos, si
no es porque todas las creaciones de la materia[11] han de tener
entre sí regular adaptación? Preciso es, pues, declarar que nada se
forma de la nada, y que todas las cosas que participan de la vida
presuponen el desarrollo de un germen.
[11] Burnet dice que á los Hebreos, á los Griegos y á los
Latinos jamás ocurrió una palabra equivalente á las actuales
de crear y de aniquilar. San Jerónimo consideraba sinónimas
las dicciones crear, formar y construir.

209. Postremo, quoniam incultis præstare videmus...

Vemos, por último, que los terrenos labrados producen más que
los faltos de cultivo y que la mano del agricultor mejora los frutos:
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