© 2002 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Book reviews |
A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists
Ladywell Mental Health Unit, Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham High Street, London SE13 6LU, UK
EDITED BY SIDNEY CROWN and ALAN LEE
By Ben Shephard. London: Jonathan Cape. 2000. 487 pp. £20.00 (hb). ISBN 0 224 06033 3
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This is a timely publication. Military psychiatry is currently in the spotlight, owing to the recent commencement of a class action in the High Court alleging that the British military medical services failed in their duty of care to prevent trauma and then adequately treat individuals traumatised by war. Ben Shephard has extensively researched this area and provides a comprehensive account of the development of military psychiatry. One of the themes of this book is how combat-related psychiatric disorder is inextricably linked with political, social and cultural issues. He also illustrates how the history of military psychiatry is closely associated with many of the most fundamental ideas in psychiatry.
The author is a historian who has contributed to a number of television series. He gives a comprehensive and authoritative account, which is at the same time an excellent read. Most impressively, as well as getting the military history correct, he writes with what appears to be an excellent understanding of psychiatric and medical issues. The book begins with the origins of shell-shock and the struggle between the ideas of Mott, Meyer and others leading up to the report of the 1922 Committee on Shell-Shock. This subject has been covered in many other works, but few are as balanced and detailed as this. More interesting, perhaps, is that Shephard continues with less-reported periods in the later part of the 20th century, including the Second World War, the Korean War, Vietnam and modern conflicts such as the Falklands. He manages to examine the development of ideas in the UK and the USA and also gives a German perspective. This volume will be of value to those interested in the development of post-traumatic stress disorder as well as the development of ideas such as therapeutic communities. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and warmly commend it, both as a good read and a useful reference on a topical subject.
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