How psychiatric symptoms varied in World War I and II.
Psychiatric syndromes may be differentially expressed according to cultural expectation. An examination of the literature reveals a predominance of conversion symptoms in World War I and a relative decrease among World War II neuropsychiatric casualties. In the latter conflict, by contrast, "combat exhaustion" and psychosomatic disorders comprised the majority of non-psychotic psychiatric casualties. Determinants of this changing "vocabulary of distress" are discussed.
Neill
J R
JR
Department of Psychiatry, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington 40536.
D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003291:Conversion Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014857:Warfare