Shell Shock And Other Neuropsychiatric Problems

'Shell-Shock and Other Neuropsychiatric Problems' by Elmer Ernest Southard is a groundbreaking compilation of 589 case records drawn from medical literature during the first three years of World War I. This wealth of data provides insights into the causes, nature, outcome, and treatment of neuropsychiatric problems of the war, including "shell-shock" and other functional and reflex nervous diseases. While primarily intended for physicians, this book also holds interest for line officers, rehabilitation specialists, and vocationalists, who can benefit from the data presented in the Treatment and Results section. With its comprehensive coverage of neuropsychiatric problems, this volume is a must-read for anyone interested in military and civil medicine history.

Reproduction of the original: Shell-Shock and Other Neuropsychiatric Problems by Elmer Ernest Southard

This compilation was begun in the preparedness atmosphere of the U. S. Army Neuropsychiatric Training School at Boston, 1917-18. This particular school had to adapt itself to the clinical material of the Psychopathic Hospital. Although war cases early began to drift into the wards (even including some overseas material), it was thought well to supplement the ordinary "acute, curable, and incipient" mental cases of the hospital wards and out-patient service with representative cases from the literature. As time wore on, this "preparedness" ideal gave place to the ideal of a collection of cases to serve as a source-book for reconstructionists dealing with neuroses and psychoses. Shortage of medical staff and delays incidental to the influenza epidemic held the book back still further, and, as meantime Brown and Williams had served the immediate need with their Neuropsychiatry and the War, it was determined to make the compilation the beginning of a case-history book on the neuropsychiatry of the war, following in part the traditions of various case-books in law and medicine.

The application of psychiatry to war and terrorism is highly topical and a source of intense media interest. Shell Shock to PTSD explores the central issues involved in maintaining the mental health of the armed forces and treating those who succumb to the intense stress of combat. Drawing on historical records, recent findings and interviews with veterans and psychiatrists, Edgar Jones and Simon Wessely present a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of military psychiatry. The psychological disorders suffered by servicemen and women from 1900 to the present are discussed and related to contemporary medical priorities and health concerns. This book provides a thought-provoking evaluation of the history and practice of military psychiatry, and places its findings in the context of advancing medical knowledge and the developing technology of warfare. It will be of interest to practicing military psychiatrists and those studying psychiatry, military history, war studies or medical history.

Shell shock was the signature injury of the First World War. Military doctors during the conflict on the Western Front observed and personally experienced psychiatric states they had never witnessed before. This text reviews the published medical literature of that era which graphically detailed the clinical states of hysteria (conversion disorder) and neurasthenia (anxiety and PTSD). Medical officers at the front evolved pragmatic medicinal, cognitive and behavioural interventions, still practised today, though never scientifically proven to be effective. The doctors, like their patients, endured numerous horrors at the front, which were, for many, to influence their post-war personal and professional lives. Much of what they wrote was forgotten and deserves reconsideration. Neuropsychiatry was founded in the shell craters of Flanders.