Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems

Chapter 513: Case 480. (Proctor, October, 1915.)

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About This Book

The work assembles nearly six hundred clinical case histories drawn from wartime medical literature to document combat-related neuropsychiatric disorders. It presents concise case protocols illustrating varied symptom patterns, diagnostic dilemmas, malingering and simulation, therapeutic interventions, and treatment outcomes, and includes bibliographic references and introductory commentary. Sections juxtapose cases to illuminate contested diagnoses and to inform postwar rehabilitation and mental-hygiene efforts, aiming to provide clinicians and reconstruction workers with detailed clinical material for recognizing, classifying, and managing neuropsychiatric consequences of war.

Shell-shock, burial: Mutism. Cure by getting drunk.

Case 480. (Proctor, October, 1915.)

A patient, 25, nine years in the service, was buried in a dugout by an explosive shell at Ypres, June 17, was taken out unconscious, and eventually reached the hospital at Versailles. Consciousness had returned a few days after the injury. There was ringing in the ears, difficulty in hearing, and inability to speak. He arrived at the Duchess of Connaught’s Hospital at Taplow, July 12, when, aside from the above-mentioned symptoms and a rapid heart action (108 at rest), he seemed perfectly well. About August 14, he began occasionally to refuse solid nourishment and remained in bed, eyelids closed but twitching at times, especially when spoken to. He resisted having his eyelids opened.

August 27, he was allowed to go to the village with companions, and got drunk, found his voice, for two days talked and sang incessantly. Discharged September 9, cured.