Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

Of course they did. It would be silly to assume differently - the value of this article is not the yes or no answer, but its exploration into how PTSD was perceived (poorly) and how it was treated (again, poorly).

I'd recommend reading the article, it's interesting.

Re: Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

#7

Post by jqm » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 12:30 AM UTC

No, I don't think they did. Nor did their kids have ADD nor their wives depression.

Instead the whole family had moral character flaws... (probably the thinking at the time).

Re: Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

#8

Post by coldcode » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 12:40 AM UTC

No matter how brave you are, spending time killing other people and watching your friends blown to bits will affect you for the rest of your life.

Re: Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

#9

Post by eric_h » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 12:41 AM UTC

eric_h wrote: post #6

sogen wrote: post #2

tl;dr Yes? No?

Of course they did. It would be silly to assume differently - the value of this article is not the yes or no answer, but its exploration into how PTSD was perceived (poorly) and how it was treated (again, poorly). I'd recommend reading the article, it's interesting.

As an aside, it would be interesting to know how pre-agricultural/nomadic hominids dealt with PTSD (and mental illness in general). I would guess that individuals who were no longer able to contribute to the survival of the tribe (or whatever you call a cooperative unit of prehistoric humans) would be culled in one manner or another, but I suspect there were exceptions.

It's really rather a shame that there is very little we can glean about the social customs of our prehistoric ancestors in this regard.

brb, i'm gonna go work on my time machine.

Re: Did Civil War Soldiers Have PTSD?

#10

Post by irishcoffee » Thu, Jan 08, 2015, 12:54 AM UTC

Odds are I'll get downvoted for this.

Did calculus Exist in 3 B.C.?

Did the Earth orbit around the Sun in 2800 B.C.?

Did dinosaurs exist way, way back in the day?

My point being, does discovering something suddenly mean it exists? Perhaps things do not suddenly exist, perhaps they are discovered. Math has always existed. It still exists to this day. Math is discovered. The rules don't change.

PTSD exists. It existed the first time Man A saw Friend B die in conflict. Did it have a name? Did it have a definition in a book? No. Did it exist? Yes. Was it 'discovered?' Recently.

Just like in 100 years, some formal definition of technology addiction will exist. It will be some extension of ADD or whatever. It was always there, it just didn't have a name.