Study: Combat Trauma Seen in Civil War

Associated Press ^ | Mon Feb 6, 2006 | CARLA K. JOHNSON

[presidio9]

A look at the medical records of Civil War soldiers suggests post-traumatic stress disorder existed back then, too, according to a study.

The researchers found that veterans who saw more death in battle had higher rates of postwar illness. Younger soldiers, including boys as young as 9, were more likely than older ones to suffer mental and physical problems after the war.

"Increased war trauma leads to increased physical and mental illness," said study co-author Roxane Cohen Silver of the University of California at Irvine. "That message can be applied to wars around the globe."

The findings, published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, were drawn from pension records on more than 15,000 Union Army veterans. The researchers examined the records, which included doctors' reports of illnesses, to find signs of cardiac, gastrointestinal and mental health problems.

Warring soldiers have carried home psychological scars for centuries. In American wars, the phenomenon has been called shell shock, combat fatigue and post-Vietnam syndrome. Medical authorities first accepted PTSD as a distinct psychiatric condition in 1980 at the urging of Vietnam veterans and their doctors.

In an editorial accompanying the new study, Dr. Roger Pitman of Harvard Medical School said the findings "should lay to rest the notion that there was something psychiatrically unique about the Vietnam Conflict or about what used to be called `post-Vietnam syndrome.'"

In PTSD, stress hormones like adrenaline scorch a painful event deep into long-term memory, scientists believe. People get edgy, fearful and prone to nightmares or flashbacks.

The study relied on a database managed by the University of Chicago.

Eric T. Dean, author of "Shook over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War," used the same records in his research. He said he is skeptical the 19th-century medical records could be made standard enough for the researchers' statistical analysis to be valid.

He also questioned relying on the diagnoses of doctors from the 1800s.

"This is a heroic effort," Dean said. "I just think it's a stretch. Beyond proving war is hell, I just question their nuanced conclusions."

___

[presidio9]

Looks like Skippy/Pickels doesn't want to play anymore.

[Number57]

I predict a lot of smack downs in your future I predict a buncha facts hitting you face-wise

[Number57]

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/facts/general/fs_overview.html

[Number57]

Look.. stop with the threats. I would think that threat of ZOT would be enouph to be zotted. It becomes old.

[RunningWolf]

I will try to Freepmail you some links later.

[Number57]

presidio9 thinks he's funny.

[VOA]

Study: Combat Trauma Seen in Civil War

Well, Whodathunkit?

Yeah, I suspect there were more than a few traumatized survivors of
The Civil War. IIRC, the state of Mississippi spent most (or went into
deficit) to pay for protheses in the years after the war.
(something about this was mentioned in Burn's PBS special)

[SoCal Pubbie]

Not a single poster you give as examples portray anyone as other than all too brutally human. The poster about the town in Czechoslovakia was factual, and the others either urged American citizens to support the war more or showed the all too real possibilities of Axis world domination.

The Colliers illustration wasn't even a poster, not were the Seuss cartoons.

[VOA]

The researchers found that veterans who saw more death in battle had
higher rates of postwar illness.

Well, that's probably describing someone who was in actions in which
they either killed lots of the enemy and/or they were one of the
very few "lucky" survivors.

Amazing what sort of "new" findings research can find when too many
tax dollars are tossed around.

[presidio9]

I'm mocking, not threatening you Skippy.

[Number57]

You're not even mocking me.

Did you entertain yourself thinking I was actually scared?

Fine. We'll spend the next hundred years teasing until we meet.

[pollyannaish]

Amen to that.

There is nothing new under the sun, if I recall correctly.

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[VOA]

Tried to get rid of the "human" element of the fighting.

Huh? If the USA used "propaganda", it was to get Americans off their
derrieres and into the fight. And there was good reason for Americans
to not want any part of the fight...as the participation in
WWI seemed to have been a pretty futile exercise in terms of preventing
the problems in Europe that gave birth to WWII.
There was a reason that the US guvmint had to hire Frank Capra to
do the "Why We Fight" series...to give the average American a booster
shot of human concern over events in Europe and the Pacific.

Thats why we had propaganda and posters depicting our enemies as
not human.

Fair call in some cases. But in some cases, if the enemies were portrayed
as "not human", it was that they were showed as almost "superhuman"
in their determination to dominate and enslave.
And those posters told folks only a maximal effort would carry the day.

We always called them evil and nonhuman to try to remove that
fabric of moral dilemma to it.

You have a point. All we had to do was show the truth about the Nazis
and the Bushido-code Japanese.
Those lamps made of human flesh and the bayonet practice on chained
prisoners were the work of flesh-and-blood human sadists and sociopaths.

[Number57]

To: Number57 I'm mocking, not threatening you Skippy. Yeah, okay. Is not the use of 'Skippy' an insult? Bring it, anytime. You talk large. Bring it.

[presidio9]

Do you understand the meaning of the term "mocking?"

And, trust me on this one, we are NEVER going to meet.

[presidio9]

Amazing. In addition to not understanding the meaning of a common term like "mocking," you appear to also have idioms like "you talk large." I wasn't aware of the fact that "Skippy" was a grave insult until it offended you. If you ever played a sport (or even had a group of friends for that matter), you would understand that this a common way for nicknames to be acquired.

Trust me on this one: If I was really "bringing it on" you'd know it.

[Fintan]

Somehow, this has to be Bush's fault. Or Cheney's.

[Fintan]

I think you guys need a group hug...

[presidio9]

Please make no attempt to mollify the newbie. I am enjoying this.