SIR,—In his interesting article on modern Switzerland, your contributor, Warren
Postbridge, has much to say of Swiss contentment and tran- quillity, and contrasts this with the strain and stress in England.
How is it then that, despite this apparent outward tranquillity, Switzer- land, in contrast to England, has one of the highest suicide and neurosis rates in the world? The Swiss suicide figures are particularly striking ; while to cope with the neurosis problem abnormal psychology has been enormously developed. What is the reason for this? The Fohn, as some of us know, has some- thing to do with it. But the problem goes deeper, for Switzerland also stands out in that neurotic triangle of Europe—namely, Switzerland, Austria and Southern Germany—where psychiatry to deal with the great number of neurosis cases had to be early developed. Yet, unlike both Austria and Germany, Switzerland has not been subject to the strain and stress of years of war, misery and social upheaval.
What, then, is the reason for her 'high figures of suicide and mental
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