XVII 



SOME DISEASES PREVALENT IN THE ARMY 

 FREDERICK F. RUSSELL 



THE WAR NEUROSES 



THESE diseases early in the war came to be called " Shell- 

 shock " and a considerable amount of literature and dis- 

 cussion has grown up about them. Although the forms of 

 psycho-neuroses which appeared early were apparently new, 

 it was soon recognized that the disease was essentially an old 

 and well established entity, but that the manifestations of the 

 diseased condition took on new forms peculiar to the war. 

 In times of peace we have comparable conditions resulting 

 from railroad and other accidents; in fact from anything 

 which makes a profound mental impression, usually associated 

 with great apprehension, fear or horror. Even in our train- 

 ing camps in this country, three thousand miles away from ex- 

 ploding shells, many cases of war neurosis developed. One 

 of the commonest forms was stiffness of the spine and rigidity 

 of the muscles of the back, usually in some markedly flexed or 

 twisted position. Although the manifestations of the disease 

 were innumerable they all had one feature in common: com- 

 plete impossibility of performing the full duties of a soldier in 

 the front line of the armies. It is not understood that these 

 men were malingering, that is, faking a disability, because the 

 man himself, unless given the proper care and treatment, was 

 quite unable to control the malady. In other words, his symp- 

 toms were due entirely to his nervous and highly excited 

 mental condition, and they had no organic or actual tissue 



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