Shell-Shock at the time of WWI is part of a dark time in the history of the entire world and is still an issue today with the soldiers coming home from the front lines. Millions of men died fighting for a territory that sometimes spanned barely a mile for years and witnessed some of the most horrific events during the war. The sheer number of cases of ‘Shell-shock' thrown up by the hellish conditions of trench warfare in the Great War, forced the military authorities, for the first time, to take combat stress seriously (N and M). It was sometimes just over looked and they were even tortured to get out of it or even killed because it was considered cowardly. The novel Regeneration, intricately interweaves fact and fiction, deriving fictive scenarios from “factual” circumstances. The scenarios of the texts are “true” the extent of the lives of the real-life characters (Harris). In the novel there were two main treatments and they were completely different. Dr.Rrivers for example used his voice and would talk it out with his patient’s, but Dr. Yealland on the other hand like when he is treating Callan used electro-shock therapy. The main point that Barker is making about the treatment given to shell shock patients is the conditions in which the men during that time were put in for their treatment based on their condition of shell shock. Rivers is the main character and doctor that deals with the patients, his first patient in the novel and main character who was a commanding officer who protests the war. I believe that knowing about Shell-shock or as we call it today, PTSD, is important in helping one better understand the book because the book is almost the first uncovering of this problem at that time to the world of the war and th... ... middle of paper ... ...ck. N.p., 2000. Web. 9 May 2014. http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/24/6/225.full N&M Press reprint (original pub 1922). Report of the War Office Committee of Enquiry into "Shell-shock" London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1922. Print. Smith, Tony. "Review of Regeneration." British Medical Journal 312.7039 (4 May 1996): 1171-1172. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 146. Detroit: Gale Group, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1100036954&v=2.1&u=aacc_ref&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=0fabd3e9871cb57dddd87cc5164f7edc Stagner, Annessa C. "Reevaluating Society's Perception of Shell Shock." Reevaluating Society's Perception of Shell Shock: A Comparative Study Between Great Britain and the United States. West Texas State University, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. http://ww1ha.org/shellshock.htm
The Great War, as World War I is often referred to, as promising a chance for young men to become, heroes. However, the reality of conflict harshly ruined this vision. Men were sent into muddy trenches where they anticipated death for weeks and months at a time. With the endless shelling saw even the most enduring soldiers worn down to insanity. The soldiers in Regeneration are characterized as being no different to the women with in the patriarchal society as men where reliant on orders from their leaders, soldiers therefore came to personify the submissive role that women had long been forced to oppress in patriarchal societies like that of early 20th century England. In Regeneration, Dr. Rivers connects war neuroses to the hysteria that often disturbed the women during this time; trenches diminished the men to be powerless, while strictly forbidden social roles have had the same effect on women. In both cases, these prolonged positions of involuntary obligation play a large role in triggering
The patients at Craiglockhart Hospital experience several different instances of doubting their masculinity in Pat Barker’s Regeneration. The men experience a variety of forms of emasculation as the plot progresses. Barker writes “The war that had promised so much in the way of ‘manly’ activity had actually delivered ‘feminine’ passivity, and on a scale that their mothers and sisters had scarcely known. No wonder they broke down” (Barker 107 - 108), which accentuates the theme of emasculation.
“The mystery lies in the effects of the primary blast. Theories range widely: Is it the shock wave’s entry to the brain through the cranial orifices” (page 36). No one truly knows what causes returning soldiers to suffer from PTSD however, when veterans return, they aren’t the same person that left. Going through all of the perpetual hostility and seeing what they have seen is not a painless undertaking. However, the training that the soldiers undergo is not any easier. “ Mild TBI may increase vulnerability to certain psychological disorders, possibly accounting for the high rate of such disorders and even suicide among veterans.” (page 37) With the unbroken tone of explosions and gunshots the brain gradually weakens in ways that dreadfully weaken a person. Shock waves released from a blast impact the brain “For days after the larger explosions, breachers reported dull aches in the chest and back “like someone had punched them” as well as headaches”(page 37). Warfare undoubtedly affects a person mentally and the brain has always been a challenging enigma for the researchers: with all the electrical impulses and biochemical reactions that control an individuals body and mind. PTSD interrupts all the “harmonious interactions among the brains 100 billion cells”(page 43). Hearing a blast affects the harmonious interactions that are in the
Bloom, Harold. "Rebirth and Renewal." Google Books. Ed. Blake Hobby. N.p., 2009. Web. Dec. 2013. .
One of the first examples of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in “Soldiers Home” is exhibited in the main character, Harold Krebs. His life is completely changed after serving in World War I. Thus, he cannot live a normal life. To make matters worse, he decided to stay two years longer tha...
Pat Barker's Regeneration explores the internal struggles of WWI soldiers, and their attempts to overcome the trauma of war experiences. One way in which soldiers were treated for psychological trauma was with hypnosis. Hypnosis is introduced to the reader on page 51. In this particular scene, Billy Prior is attempting to convince Dr. Rivers of his specific need for hypnotherapy, in order to recall his repressed memories. By recovering these painful memories through hypnosis, Barker's male patients find themselves able to embrace emotions rather than repress them. Prior is one particular example of the need to alter masculine gender roles in order to embrace emotions and be healed, a theme present in Regeneration.
The website My PTSD (2013) explores the history of PTSD experienced by soldiers. While this illness was not known until 1980 as PTSD, the symptoms of the disease can be traced back to warriors in the battlefield 1000BC. Prior of being called PTSD this disorder was identified with various names just within the last century. These names included: War Hysteria, Stress Response Syndrome, Vietnam Veterans Syndrome, DaCosta’s Syndrome, Shell Shock, War Neurosis, Combat Stress Reaction, Traumatic & Fright Neuroses, and many others. Much of the PTSD development was influenced by WWI and WWII veterans’ response to stress. The effects of the illness were identified by the fixation on traumatic events as well as functional limitations (My PTSD). While anybody experiencing a trauma can become a victim of PTSD,...
During World War I, British psychiatrists saw a condition called shellshock.Its symptoms included stuttering, crying, trembling, paralysis, stupor, mutism, deafness, blindness, anxiety attacks, insomnia, confusion, amnesia, hallucinations, nightmares, heart problems, vomiting, and intestinal disorders. Soldiers suffering from shell shock were unable to fight. Military officials were convinced that they were malingerers or cowards. Military physicians viewed this condition as neurological in
Chapter 22 in the novel Regeneration by Pat Barker is very significant to the development of the character Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, through the symbol of control throughout the book. In this chapter, Rivers returns to his home after witnessing Dr. Lewis Yealland’s horrific treatment of his patient Callan through the use of electrotherapy. Being displaced by the incident, Rivers finds it difficult to do any work because throughout the night recollections of the treatment continue to haunt him. After deciding to go to sleep, Rivers has a nightmare where he is treating a patient with electroshock therapy, just as Yealland did, except after attempting to shove the electrode into the patient’s mouth several times, he realizes that what he is holding is not an electrode, but a horse’s bit. Rivers awakens and reflects on this dream, noting that instead of trying to cure a patient of mutism by stimulating the patient with electroshock therapy, he was really trying to get his patient to stop speaking, and to rather become mute. The passages in chapter 22 serves to force the reader to question wether or not Rivers and Yealland are actually helping their patients, as well as to develop Dr. Rivers’s character by showing how he and Yealland are quite similar despite their differences in treatment through the exhibition of the element of control that both of these characters possess.
An outcome of World War I was a new medical disorder classified as Shell Shock. Shell Shock is a medical disorder developed to describe the symptoms that soldiers developed without a probable or obvious lesion as the cause after serving time on the war front. Shell Shock is one of the most prominent injuries of World War I; the symptoms varied among each soldier, treatments were still being developed, and doctors were still trying to understand the severity of the disorder. The symptoms soldiers described are due to the stress they encountered while they served on the front line. Shell Shock is a condition that soldiers have begun to develop after serving in the war.
Aull, Felice. "Literature Annotations." Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database. New York University, 7 Dec. 2006. Web. 6 Apr. 2011.
The field of psychology is a discipline, originated from many branches of science. It has applications from within a complete scope of avenues, from psychotherapy to professional decision-making. The flexibility and versatility of this field reflects its importance and demands in-depth analysis. Psychology was a division of philosophy until it developed independent scientific disciplines. The history of psychology was a scholarly study of the mind and behavior that dates back to the beginning of civilization. There are important details from previous theory psychologist, research have contributed to behaviorism approaches and have contributed towards specific current behavioral practices. Contemporary behavior therapy began to emerge into distinct practical and core learning theories concerning the needs and knowledge engaging cultural and professional differences.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental condition that ails soldiers and civilians alike who have been unfortunate enough to endure terrifying life harrowing experiences. Those who experience this disorder are prone to pejorative flashbacks to the time of the incident that triggered the neurological disorder. Most soldiers are capable of withstanding the withering physiological strain of combat, however a growing portion of people exposed to the graphic belligerence of war are prone to PTSD. In the novel 1984, George Orwell writes on multiple occasions of graphic war depictions and human pain. Having served in the Spanish Civil War, Orwell was exposed to violent reactions long before PTSD was officially diagnosed or even recognized. Not only did the novel display clear symptoms of his syndrome, Orwell released the tremendous stress he experienced on a daily basis as a result of the post traumatic stress he experienced through writing his novel. 1984 was inspired purely by the need to relinquish the internal pressures Orwell had experienced earlier in life, in a society where the open display of such symptoms was a sign of cowardice and weakness in the face of battle.
In this essay I am looking at where Psychology as a discipline has come from and what affects these early ideas have had on psychology today, Psychology as a whole has stemmed from a number of different areas of study from Physics to Biology,
PTSD was such a horrible sickness because it embedded traumatic events in a soldiers mind. So later on this memory impeded a soldier enjoyment of life. Certain smell, sights and taste a soldier experienced triggered their memory making them recall those horrifying moments when their friend was brutally slaughtered. When these memories occurred soldiers would lose themselves. They would would break down and question themselves, ‘What could I have done to save him? Why did he die and not me? The guilt was so great that for many that they simply killed themselves. However, this was only one of the horrible effects of PTSD. Another