The application of psychiatry to war and terrorism is highly topical and a source of intense media interest. Shell Shock to PTSD explores the central issues involved in maintaining the mental health of the armed forces and treating those who succumb to the intense stress of combat. Drawing on historical records, recent findings and interviews with veterans and psychiatrists, Edgar Jones and Simon Wessely present a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of military psychiatry. The psychological disorders suffered by servicemen and women from 1900 to the present are discussed and related to contemporary medical priorities and health concerns. This book provides a thought-provoking evaluation of the history and practice of military psychiatry, and places its findings in the context of advancing medical knowledge and the developing technology of warfare. It will be of interest to practicing military psychiatrists and those studying psychiatry, military history, war studies or medical history.

This is a history of military psychiatry in the twentieth century. Both absorbing historical narrative and intellectual detective story, it weaves literary, medical, and military lore to give us a fascinating history of war neuroses and their treatment, from the World Wars through Vietnam and up to the Gulf War.

Looks at the effect of deadly battle on the body and mind and offers new research findings to help prevent lasting adverse effects.

Can a Baby Be an Enemy? Our world is in a deep, prolonged crisis. The threat of global nuclear war, the chronic condition of local wars, the imperilled environment, and mass star vation are among the major forms this crisis takes. The dangers of massive overkill, overexploitation of the environment, and overpopulation are well known, but surprisingly little has been said about their potential interac tions, their bearing upon each other. If there were to be a nuclear confronta tion between today's superpowers, it might not take place in today's world, but in a far less friendly habitat, such as the world may be some decades hence. And it need hardly be added that the era of this particular super power configuration may be waning rapidly, its place to be taken by other international arrangements not necessarily less threatening. To understand and cope with our situation we need correspondingly serious reflection. This volume forms a welcome part of that process. Un avoidably, a large part of our thinking about the issues of human survival must be oriented to physical and biological aspects of the total danger. But it has not escaped the authors of this book that, coupled with these aspects, there are profound psychological dangers, such as loss of the sense of futu rity, moral deterioration, and a fatalistic decline in the will to struggle to protect our home, the Earth.