On and Off the Battlefield: Literary Depictions of War Trauma before PTSD

Abstract

Above all, thank you to the staff of the Office of the Clinical Director at the NIMH. Thank you for taking a humanities person into your midst and igniting the love of clinical psychology she often suspected was within her. 10 suffer from beliefs that the world is bad, feel depressed and guilty, lose the ability to experience positive emotions, and feel estranged from other people (Criterion D). After the trauma, the victim may be irritable, quick to anger, or engage in reckless behavior. The victim may also have an exaggerated startle response, and have difficulties concentrating (Criterion E). These symptoms must last for more than one month (Criterion F), and cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social or occupational functioning (Criterion G). For an exhaustive list of the symptoms, see the DSM-5. 6 The following is a condensed history of the PTSD diagnosis, beginning with the condition known as railway spine in the 1860s up to the DSM-5 of today. This chronology highlights the stigma faced by PTSD sufferers, the skepticism that traumatic response had a physical cause and the gender and class connotations that labeled the victims. Physiologic Beginnings The earliest entry for the word "traumatic," from the 1656 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, gives the definition, "belonging to wounds or the cure of wounds." This word, clearly referring to a physical event, would eventually take on a psychological meaning in the nineteenth century with the publication of On Railway and Other Injuries of the Nervous System (1866) by surgeon John Eric Erichsen. 7

Comparing Fictional War Hero, Paul Baumr, and US Marine, Sam Siata: A Trauma Study of PTSD Victims in Soldiers

“…However, he seems to have become aware that there is something wrong with him. Clayton (2014) clarifies it saying Baumer has become "disenchanted of war" but he does not want to be "seen as psychologically damaged" which is a sign of PTSD (p. 28). If taken in the light of Judith Herman's categories of construction, (p. 35) it seems it has certainly been the case with Baumer.…”