Long term shellshock/neurasthenia treatments in England

[shuffleduck]

Story Setting: Early 1920s England, Post-WW1 Britain.
Search Terms: long term shell shock treatment / shell shock dietary regime
/ post war shell shock treatment / officers shell shock world war one / world war one shell shock case study / neurasthenia treatment 1920s / shell shock rehabilitation

Hi!

I'm writing in post-World War I 1920s England and I'

Comments

[jayb111]

Apologies if I'm stating the obvious (I had a look at your interests and didn't see this mentioned) but I recommend you look at the novels of Dorothy L. Sayers, especially The Unpleasantness at The Bellona Club, which has the long term impact of the First World War as one of its underlying themes. The topic is also touched on in Whose Body and Busman's Honeymoon, but I do recommend you read them all if you can get them.

Do you have any specific queries about the 1920s? I'll be teaching the period after Christmas, so I am currently fairly well up on it and have the books to hand!

[shuffleduck]

Thank you! I hadn't heard of those books and they sound perfect!

1920s query-wise I'm looking for info on domestic/social detail, such as where did people (young and older) go out to at the time to socialise/for fun, were there any fads in food/drink/style (well, it doesn't need to be a 'fad', I'm really looking for just what would men and women have, say, ordered to drink at the time, or drank at home whilst they were entertaining friends), and any phrases/slang around Britain at the time (it's easy to find American slang but harder to find dialogue quirks specifically British!). You teach about the period? That's fascinating! Sincerely wishing I could take your class!

[marycatelli]

Unpleasantness is what I first thought of, too. Two major characters suffer it.

Also from it, I note that if the family had servants, that would have a lot of impact on the matter.

[jayb111]

The answers to all of those really depend on who you were and where you lived. The Dorothy L Sayers novels, and any others published at the time, will give you an idea of the slang. 'Topping' or 'tophole' or 'jolly good' for things you liked; 'rot' as in 'he talked a lot of rot' for things you didn't like

[utsusemia]

As far as the 1920s in Britain, you might check out the BBC series House of Eliott (it seemed fairly accurate to me, but I'd double-check anything you really want to use), which is about sisters in London opening their own fashion house, and is a ton of fun. Also, there's the book Bright Young People by D.J. Taylor, subtitle "The Lost Generation of London's Jazz Age". There seems to be a useful bibliography in the back, too.

Four Frightened People by E. Arnot Robinson takes place in either the late twenties or early thirties, I can't quite recall, and has some details of life in Britain (and the characters are British). It's appallingly racist, fair warning, but if you want to read it for period details, it could be useful.

A good biography of Siegfried Sassoon might also give you a lot of information about PTSD treatment and post-war British life in general.

Sorry, this isn't really my area, but it's what springs to mind. Hope it helps!

[shuffleduck]

Ahh! Thanks for the House of Elliot reminder! I noted it down ages ago and never remembered to look at it! Should be very useful, especially since there's a real lack of TV set during this period (American stuff/Boardwalk Empire aside!) and I'm sure over the series they packed in a lot of detail about the changes of the time.

And thank you for the books recs, I'll check them out, they seem just what I'm looking for!

[shuffleduck]

Thank you! I've been flummoxed about what shell shock book would be best to get, there are so many, so I'll definitely take your recommendation of that one.

And perfect, thank you, I was hoping to find some specific people/cases to look into for more personal details to go along with the more general statistics of history books!

[wolfhound]

instead of googling 1920 might be good to use mid or late edwardian

[jayb111]

Um, Edward VII died in 1910. George V was on the throne in the 1920s - but Googling 'Georgian' will probably throw up 18th century sites.

[wolfhound]

shouldnt hit reply at 4am I meant georgian duh

[alextiefling]

Georgian never means 1920s-40s; it's always 18th-century. Well, that or people from Georgia (either one).

[duckodeath]

You definitely want to read Dorothy L. Sayers.

For watching, and this is more specifically about upper class people, I'd recommend the original Brideshead Revisited mini-series which has a significant portion set in the 1920s.

[shuffleduck]

Excellent, several of my characters are upper class so that's perfect. :)

Ha, I'm totally going to be raiding libraries and bookstores for Dorothy L. Sayers tomorrow!

[corvideye]

Great delights await you! Sayers novels are a roaring good time.

[alextiefling]

Seconded! She covers a fairly comprehensive range of social classes of the era, too. Lord Peter himself is obviously upper aristocracy, but there are servants (Bunter), middle-class police officers (Parker), academics (Harriet), advertising executives (in Murder Must Advertise), travelling salesmen (Montague Egg and his colleagues, in the short stories), artists (in the Five Red Herrings), and so on.