title: Psychiatric disorder and suicide in the military, then and now: commentary on Frueh and Smith.
abstract: Consulting archival medical data from the American Civil War, Frueh and Smith found little evidence of mental disorders, no evidence of reexperiencing symptoms suggestive of posttraumatic stress disorder, but a notable rate of suicide. In this commentary, I suggest reasons why the archives contain so few traces of combat-related disorders despite the massive trauma experienced by soldiers in the Civil War, and I draw implications for military personnel returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
authors.affiliation: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States. rjm@wjh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: McNally
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000266:history*; D047831:American Civil War; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000266:history*; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000266:history*; D013405:Suicide / Q000266:history*