Ptsd: A Short History

Abstract

Notions of trauma are pervasive in our culture. As Allan V. Horwitz observes, Western culture now “routinely assumes that people who are exposed to traumas will develop serious and recurrent negative psychological consequences.” Post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd) is widely accepted; its victims are afforded compassion, and often compensation, in different forms. In this eminently accessible history of Ptsd, Horwitz skillfully guides readers through a history of traumatic responses, seamlessly incorporating a variety of technical sources, including medical research and legal thought on compensation. A synthetic history, the narrative begins in a triad. Horwitz examines the connections between the maladies of American Civil War soldiers, train accidents, and nineteenth-century psychological theory, including that of Sigmund Freud. While these early precursors of trauma are well known to any student of the topic, Horwitz's writing is compelling, weaving legal and medical texts through his argument. He then turns to examine how the experiences of World War I and World War II shaped conceptions of trauma and its treatment. The work of military psychiatrists, he shows, contributed to the rise of environmentally oriented psychiatry in civilian practice.