Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T10:51:53.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Isolating the phthisical insane

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Henry Rollin*
Affiliation:
Horton Hospital, Epsom, Surrey
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Type
Columns
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2001 

Written evidence of stress reactions to trauma is relatively new, dating back to the 17th century (Trimble, 1985). I would like to present the oldest post-traumatic reaction in recorded history. This historical evidence is based on a cuneiform tablet describing the death in battle of King Urnamma (2111-2094 BC) and its consequences (Fluckiger-Hawker, 1999). This tablet provides the earliest known description of exposure to a traumatic event leading to a post-traumatic reaction. The following paragraphs present the destruction bestowed on Sumer and the people's reaction to the event:

“From the […, the…] was […] evenly in/on the land.

[The…] struck, the palace(s) was collapsed.

[The…] spread panic rapidly among its Black-headed who dwelt there.

[The…] established its abandoned places in Sumer.

In its vast […] cities are destroyed, the people are seized with panic.

Evil came upon Ur…”.

(Urnamma A: 1-6. In Fluckiger-Hawker, 1999)

“They weep bitter tears in their broad squares where merriment had reigned.

With their bliss (fullness) having come to an end, the people do not sleep soundly”.

(Urnamma A: 19-20. In Fluckiger-Hawker, 1999)

These verses describe exposure to a traumatic event, followed by psychiatric symptoms. This evidence gives us a glimpse of a traumatic reaction in antiquity and allows us to compare it to modern reactions. Furthermore, it reveals the core features of post-traumatic stress disorder, which are based on exposure to a traumatic event followed by characteristic symptoms such as sleep disturbances (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

Footnotes

EDITED BY MATTHEW HOTOPF

References

Lancet, 27 January 1900, 248.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.