Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems : $b Presented in five hundred and eighty-nine case histories from the war literature, 1914-1918Southard, Elmer Ernest
History
Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems : $b Presented in five hundred and eighty-nine case histories from the war literature, 1914-1918
Southard, Elmer Ernest
War neuroses; World War, 1914-1918 -- Medical care; World War, 1914-1918 -- Psychological aspects
Observed in the clinic, he said he was a bank representative and had
been very nervous since being divorced in 1911. The divorce was due to
his wife’s adultery. Sometimes he would not know really what he was
doing, once even tried to shoot himself, and again once threw a burning
lamp into his wife’s face without knowing it.
He had gone to the City of T---- without furlough in October because
others used to, too. Only five days later had he noticed that his troop
was no longer there; and upon inquiring about the troop he could find
nothing as to its whereabouts.
He had been a heavy drinker and was always somewhat intoxicated, which,
according to the patient, made him forget everything. He had drunk 20
glasses of beer and liquor daily. He wrote to P. because he knew his
father.
As for the frauds, he said he knew nothing about them. He did not know
even the baker from whom he had gotten the cakes. In fact, he had been
drunk the whole day long.
He said that he had learned badly in school and had not passed any
examinations. In active service he had already been convicted of
drunkenness once. Referring to his treatment by injections, he said
he would rather be dead. He had only sought diversion in looking
over estates. Both his ability to reckon and his memory had suffered
greatly. He and another patient eloped from the clinic one day but were
captured a few hours later.
Remarks: Details are lacking as to the physical and laboratory
side of this case. On the whole, there appeared to be no
convincing features of paresis or cerebrospinal syphilis.
The phenomena are very possibly in part alcoholic. There
appeared to be no sensory disorders, and in particular no
hallucinations. The intellectual disorder is chiefly amnestic.
There is little or no evidence of emotional abnormality. The
curious conduct seems hardly to indicate a primary disorder of
will. The main feature psychologically appears to be amnesia
coupled with an inability to reckon. To be sure, the letters
are written externally in sufficiently good form; the amnesia
does not appear to extend to details. It is a question of
whether the disorientation which one suspects is not merely
amnestic. On the whole, however, it would appear that there
must have been at various times disorder of consciousness,
as indeed is indicated by the patient’s own account of his
ignorance of the cake-roebuck episode.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account