Nothing New under the Sun: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Ancient World
In: Early Science and MedicineSearch for other papers by Walid Khalid Abdul-Hamid in
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Herodotus’ account of the Athenian spear carrier Epizelus’ psychogenic mutism following the Marathon Wars is usually cited as the first documented account of post-traumatic stress disorders in historical literature. This paper describes much earlier accounts of post combat disorders that were recorded as occurring in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) during the Assyrian dynasty (1300–609 bc). The descriptions in this paper include many symptoms of what we would now identify in current diagnostic classification systems as post-traumatic stress disorders, including flashbacks, sleep disturbance and low mood. The Mesopotamians explain the disorder in terms of spirit affliction; the spirit of those enemies whom the patient had killed during battle causing the symptoms.
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C.A. Castro and A.B. Adler, “OPTEMPO: Effects on Soldier and Unit Readiness,” Parameters (Autumn 1999), 86–95.
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Scurlock and Andersen, Diagnoses, 438. See P.J. Brown and J. Wolfe, “Substance Abuse and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Comorbidity,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 35 (1994), 51–59.
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Marc-Antoine Crocq and Louis Crocq, “From Shell Shock and War Neurosis to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A History of Psychotraumatology,” Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 2 (2000), 47–55; H. Stephan Bracha, “Human Brain Evolution and the “Neuroevolutionary Time-depth Principle: Implications for the Reclassification of Fear-circuitry-related Traits in DSM-v and for Studying Resilience to Warzone-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder,” Progress in Neuropsychopharmacological and Biological Psychiatry, 30 (2006), 827–853; Regel and Joseph, Post-traumatic Stress, 3.
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Nothing New under the Sun: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Ancient World
In: Early Science and MedicineSearch for other papers by Walid Khalid Abdul-Hamid in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Jamie Hacker Hughes in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Herodotus’ account of the Athenian spear carrier Epizelus’ psychogenic mutism following the Marathon Wars is usually cited as the first documented account of post-traumatic stress disorders in historical literature. This paper describes much earlier accounts of post combat disorders that were recorded as occurring in Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) during the Assyrian dynasty (1300–609 bc). The descriptions in this paper include many symptoms of what we would now identify in current diagnostic classification systems as post-traumatic stress disorders, including flashbacks, sleep disturbance and low mood. The Mesopotamians explain the disorder in terms of spirit affliction; the spirit of those enemies whom the patient had killed during battle causing the symptoms.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 4032 | 817 | 122 |
| Full Text Views | 497 | 58 | 7 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 613 | 198 | 16 |