title: War neuroses and Arthur Hurst: a pioneering medical film about the treatment of psychiatric battle casualties.
abstract: From 1917 to 1918, Major Arthur Hurst filmed shell-shocked patients home from the war in France. Funded by the Medical Research Committee, and using Pathé cameramen, he recorded soldiers who suffered from intractable movement disorders as they underwent treatment at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley and undertook programs of occupational therapy at Seale Hayne in Devon. As one of the earliest UK medical films, Hurst's efforts may have drawn inspiration from the official documentary of the Battle of the Somme and films made in 1916 by French Army neurologists. Although initially motivated to make use of a novel medium to illustrate lectures, Hurst was alert to the wider appeal of the motion picture and saw an opportunity to position himself in the postwar medical hierarchy. Some "before treatment" shots were reenacted for the camera. Hurst, like some other shell shock doctors, openly used deception as a therapeutic measure. On the basis that the ends justified the means, they defended this procedure as ethical. Clinicians also took advantage of changes in military regulations to address functional symptoms. Claims made of "cures" in the film and associated publications by Hurst were challenged by other doctors treating shell shock. The absence of follow-up data and evidence from war pension files suggested that Hurst may have overstated the effectiveness of his methods. Nevertheless, the message conveyed in the film that chronic cases could be treated in a single session had a powerful resonance for ambitious or charismatic doctors and was revived in World War II.
authors: King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. edgar.jones@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors: Edgar
authors: E
authors: Jones
references: J Hist Med Allied Sci. 2010 Jul;65(3):368-95
references: 20219728
references: Br Med J. 1917 Sep 29;2(2961):409-14
references: 20768746
references: Br Med J. 1920 Jan 10;1(3080):46-7
references: 20769761
references: Psychol Med. 2007 Feb;37(2):215-23
references: 17094817
references: Hospital (Lond 1886). 1919 Apr 5;66(1713):9
references: 29832038
references: Br Med J. 1939 Sep 16;2(4106):615-7
references: 20782653
references: Proc R Soc Med. 1918;11(Neurol Sect):39-42
references: 19980182
references: Gut. 1960 Mar;1:3-5
references: 14405435
references: Brain. 2009 Oct;132(Pt 10):2889-96
references: 19321463
references: Mov Disord. 2011 Dec;26(14):2453-9
references: 21370261
references: Hist Psychiatry. 2004 Dec;15(60 Pt 4):489-94
references: 15630790
references: Gut. 1979 Jun;20(6):463-6
references: 381126
references: Postgrad Med J. 1999 Nov;75(889):643-4
references: 10621872
references: Lancet. 1997 Mar 22;349(9055):819-20
references: 9121253