Historical references to War Related Post Traumatic Stress Dissorder

[Slartibardfast]

I recently watched a fabulous documentary on the Zulu War, in which one of the decendants of the Sergeant Major at Rorkes Drift was relating the fate of his ancestor.

Apparently the SM in question despite selling his VC ended his days penniless running around the streets of Manchester with a gun yelling out "The Zulu's are coming!" Obviously in the grip of a full blown "flashback" and physically and mentally reliving the horror of being crammed with 150 other blokes into a 15 yard square redoubt fending of the successive charges of thousands of Zulu's.

For those that don't know war related PTSD was known as "Battle Fatigue" in WW2 (read Spike Milligans account of its onset in himself in his WW2 memoirs,) and "Shell Shock" in WW1.
http://www.acpmh.unimelb.edu.au/
for a quick guide to the symptoms and associated problems.

I have it myself, as does my father and several cousins, and after watching the above doco was curious if the community was aware of, or come across any other pre-20th Century historical references that indicate historical figures suffering from the disorder.

I haven't studied the ACW for over 20 years but I'm pretty sure several US and Confederate generals showed signs of suffering from the disorder. Blucher definitely showed signs of it's onset by the time of Waterloo as possibly did Napoleon, which gives a different insight into the progression and outcome of that battle.

I'm on-line very erratically at present but I wouldn't mind seeing what you guys have come up with when I can next get on-line.

[Grey_Fox]

I read that Wellington once suffered from an alleged PTSD episode the night after Talavera. To be sure it wasn't uncommon - it just wasn't recognised.

[Slartibardfast]

Thanks Grey Fox you've given me a new research lead for this evening and a nice quote by lars573.:2thumbsup:

[Samurai Waki]

well structurally speaking humans haven't changed much in the last 20,000 years, so I am suspicious that PTSD has been around for a very long time. As populations became larger, so too did Armies, and Battles. The wanton carnage could easily inflict itself on the minds of anyone who had been a part of it.

I also remember reading something about the 2nd Welsh Uprising that the Welsh King committed younger nobles and peasants into battle first because they wouldn't shy away as easily from combat as his veterans.

[King Kurt]

If you Wiki the falklands war you will see that it has been claimed that more vetrens have committed suicide since the conflict than the number of service men killed in the conflict.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1758301.stm

In recent times, I have found that fact to be one of the most moving items I have read and a real insight into the impact of war. Over the years I have often come across people who fought in WW2 but do not want to talk about it. My wife's grandfather, who sadly I never meet, served with the Royal Horse Artillery throughout the war. His son, my father in law, knows little about what happened to his father during the war. After his death he found a diary which chronicles what happened from D-Day to the end of the war, but there are many gaps, not least of which was that his father won the Belgium Croix de Guerre, but he does not know why. One amusing side effect was he hated baked beans and would not have them in the house - apparently a reaction of having them so much during the war. Sadly, his brother, who was in the RAF, had been killed early in the war - he flew in Lysanders and was shot down in May 1940 - so that must have had an effect. Again, his son knew little of what happened and it was only our research which filled in a few details.
Reflecting on these issues always puts the impact of war into true prospective, I think.

[Grey_Fox]

If you look at the holders of the Victoria Cross, a far higher proportion than the average population have committed suicide.

[IrishArmenian]

If you look at the holders of the Victoria Cross, a far higher proportion than the average population have committed suicide.
I wouldn't doubt it. Here, however, 95% of those who gain great medals are already dead, so problem solved.:2thumbsup:
I joke because humour is a great way to deal with grief, though it is always considered inappropriate.

[Samurai Waki]

Sometimes it is better to laugh in callous disregard, rather than allow your true emotions to surface.

Although most war vets just kind of wipe out those memories as best as they can.

[TinCow]

PTSD is as old as warfare itself. I deal with PTSD cases pretty much every week. I guarantee you every war that has ever been fought has produced PTSD in some of its combatants.

At I lecture I once attended about the subject, the speaker said that the earliest reference to PTSD in history was from Herodotus himself. After reading the relevant section, I'm inclined to agree. Here it is:


There fell in this battle of Marathon, on the side of the barbarians, about six thousand and four hundred men; on that of the Athenians, one hundred and ninety-two. Such was the number of the slain on the one side and the other. A strange prodigy likewise happened at this fight. Epizelus, the son of Cuphagoras, an Athenian, was in the thick of the fray, and behaving himself as a brave man should, when suddenly he was stricken with blindness, without blow of sword or dart; and this blindness continued thenceforth during the whole of his after life. The following is the account which he himself, as I have heard, gave of the matter: he said that a gigantic warrior, with a huge beard, which shaded all his shield, stood over against him, but the ghostly semblance passed him by, and slew the man at his side. Such, as I understand, was the tale which Epizelus told.