Psychology and the Special Operations Executive, 1940-46: The Selection of Clandestine Operatives and the Treatment of Survivors. (360G-Wellcome-100251_Z_12_Z)

Set up in 1940 and disbanded in 1946, the Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a clandestine Allied organisation tasked during the Second World War with carrying out sabotage behind enemy lines and encouraging occupied populations to resist. By the end of the war it had recruited and trained more than 9,000 operatives who were expected to endure, for long periods, conditions of extreme physical and psychological difficulty and threat. Drawing on a range of untapped material, including recently declassified documents, and exploring topics of contemporary relevance, this research reveals how, and with what success, SOE addressed the impact of the psychological stresses to which its operatives were exposed. It unearths the processes by which candidates were selected for clandestine operations. It establishes the contribution made by psychologists and psychiatrists to those processes, which included the application of pioneering theories and procedures of testing and assessment. It asses ses the degree to which those processes were effective in identifying personnel capable of coping and working well in the field. And it illuminates and assess the methods and degree of diagnosis and treatment of operatives who returned from the field with psychological problems.