Loughran, Tracey Louise ![]() |
Abstract
Histories of shell-shock have argued that the diagnosis was subdivided into the categories hysteria and neurasthenia, and that the differential distribution and treatment of these diagnoses was shaped by class and gender expectations. These arguments depend on the presentation of hysteria and neurasthenia as opposed constructs in British medical discourse before 1914. An analysis of the framing of these diagnoses in British medical discourse c.1910—1914 demonstrates that hysteria and neurasthenia, although undergoing redefinition in these years, were closely connected through the designation of both as functional diseases, and the role attributed to heredity in each. Before the war these diagnoses were perceived as indicators of national decline. Continuity, as well as change, is evident in medical responses to shell-shock.
Item Type: | Article |
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Date Type: | Publication |
Status: | Published |
Schools: | History, Archaeology and Religion |
Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D204 Modern History D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry |
Uncontrolled Keywords: | anxiety neurosis; degeneration; hysteria; neurasthenia; shell-shock |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
ISSN: | 0957-154X |
Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2022 13:23 |
URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/13689 |
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