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
Slightly wounded again in the neck, January 6, 1915, he was evacuated
and operated on. After the operation he could neither walk nor stand.
His reflexes were normal; he could perform all movements when lying
down, although the movements were executed very slowly. As soon as he
could sit upright, he was taken with tremors and could not hold himself
in a vertical standing position, nor take a single step. If he was
given crutches, he dragged the two legs.
Under the influence of electric treatment--a mild faradic current--he
was cured at a sitting so that he could both stand and walk (March,
1916).
=Case 247.= (ROUSSY and LHERMITTE, 1917.)
Astasia-abasia after shell explosion occurred in an infantryman
observed by Roussy and Lhermitte at Villejuif, July 8, 1915.
The patient had been wounded September, 1914. The wound was a
superficial one in the thoracic wall, under the right nipple. He had
been cast into a very deep shell hole, but had been able to get back to
the aid station alone, taking very short steps only.
As soon as he reached the station, his gait became spastic, trembling
and hesitant. Given two canes, he could walk painfully, trembling.
At each step, he would balance his body back and forth. He gave the
impression of a man drawing some sort of vehicle, who had to make a
considerable effort at each step.
The faradic treatment cured this patient at one sitting.
War strain; fall into water-filled trench: Dysbasia, tremors, vasomotor
disorders. Cure by hypnosis. Case to demonstrate “traumatic” hysteria
WITHOUT somatic TRAUMA.
=Case 248.= (NONNE, December, 1915.)
An artilleryman (without hereditary or acquired neuropathic taint)
underwent much stress and strain in the war in Belgium, Lorraine and
Flanders. One night, on leaving his observation post, he fell into a
trench filled with water. He felt pricks in the groin and gradually
developed a pseudospastic tremor of the lower extremity, paraparesis
inferior, depression, irritability, pressure sensations in the head,
and sleeplessness. He passed through three hospitals before arriving at
Hamburg and received the diagnosis of concussion of the brain and cord.
Nonne found an emotional state of depression with hypochondriacal
fear, disturbance of sleep, deficient appetite, constipation and
pollakisuria. He walked upon two crutches, dragging his legs inertly
after him. There was marked cyanosis, lowered temperature and
hyperidrosis of the feet and lower legs; exaggeration of tendon and
skin reflexes and pseudoclonus; no Babinski or Oppenheim reaction.
There was anesthesia of the lower extremities and of trunk as high as
the ribs. Pulse 130. Visual fields normal. Sensory disorders absent.
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