How did the Civil War affect the soldiers who fought it psychologically?

-- Frank (frankeegee@yahoo.com), February 06, 2002

Answers

You're talking about the possibility of what is now called post- traumatic stress disorder. A controversial book on the topic is

Dean, Eric T. Shook Over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.

You might find some information in an encyclopedia or dictionary of psychology by reading the entries on battle fatigue or war neurosis, which are the earlier terms. But remember that the Civil War was fought before there was a profession of psychology, and that Dean's book is controversial because he's reading a new framework back into the reported experiences. There's considerably more literature on WWI and WWII. The psychologist W. H. R. Rivers did some wonderful work with WWI soldiers--but that's another story.

-- Hendrika Vande Kemp (hendrika@earthlink.net), February 07, 2002.