The Australian experience of psychological casualties in war, 1915-1939

Based on 104 of Personal Case files and a wide range of further primary material, this dissertation explores the Australian experience of shell shock from 1915 until 1939. This thesis encompasses the impact of war-induced psychological disorder on soldiers at the front and in the hospital and rehabilitative systems both during and after the war. It also assesses the effect of this problem on the social functioning of returned soldiers during the 1920s and 1930s as well as its influence on Australian psychiatry during this period. It concludes that psychological disorder was one of the war's least obvious but most devastating consequences. Very little evidence of psychological disorder amongst the Light Horse in Palestine has been discovered so the discussion in this dissertation has been confined almost exclusively to Gallipoli and the Western Front for which primary material on shell shock is relatively abundant. The date range of the thesis represents the period from the sustaining of the first psychological casualties at Gallipoli to the beginning of the next war. By this time many psychological casualties from the first great conflagration had still not been cured.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Victoria University of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Lindstrom, Richard George

• 1701 Psychology
• 2103 Historical Studies
• School of Social Sciences and Psychology

Language dc:language

en