PTSD from Shakespeare's time and before

[rachelmanija]

I'm writing a paper on PTSD and combat-related berserk states as depicted in pre-1650 sources and comparing it to the current understanding of both. Ideally, I will be able to reference substance/alcohol use and abuse in relation to this.

Can you recommend me some sources to check out? I am definitely going to be using Shakespeare's Henry V, Part

Comments

[fadethecat]

Hm. I was going to suggest the Odyssey, but if you've got the Iliad in there already, it'd probably come across as a touch redundant. (Nonetheless, Odysseus does not come across as a man who's sanguine after all that combat, whatever he wants to claim.)

[lady_ganesh]

My first thought was Hercules!

[erikagillian]

I would really like to read the paper when you're done, it sounds so fascinating.

[the_red_baron]

This is pretty well known, I think, so you're probably already aware of it, but Herodotus mentions a case of psychosomatic blindness (er, is that the phrase now or what? I usually see it described in older books as "hysterical blindness") at the Battle of Marathon. I'd be kind of surprised if PTSD doesn't come up elsewhere in Herodotus' depictions of war, too, or in Thucydides.

A while back I read a paper arguing that Clearchus of Sparta showed PTSD symptoms in Xenophon's Anabasis. I didn't find all of it convincing, but it's true Clearchus is described as being more or less addicted to war, shows signs of hypervigilance, paranoia and inability to trust others, and at one point loses his temper and goes into something like a berserk state while not on the battlefield, in response to a trigger that might have reminded him of combat.

Sir William Marshal

[zornhau]

12th century knight, William Marshal in his later years tended to get carried away. Once inthe middle of a battle, he pursued 3 French knights into a castle and knocked them down. When his friends caught up:

Friends: "Hey William, WTF you doing dude?"

William : "OMG! I thought I was in a tournament."

All: "ROFL"

(My translation from the Anglo Norman French is idiomatic)

However, tread politely. Sir William was the greatest knight ever.