Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Medical School, London
Correspondence: Dr Edgar Jones, Department of Psychological Medicine, King's College Medical School, 103 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8RT; e-mail: E.Jones{at}hogarth7.demon.co.uk
Declaration of interest E.J. is supported by a grant from the US Department of Defense.
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ABSTRACT |
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Aims To discover more about the factors that cause psychiatric casualties and their relationship to total battle casualties.
Method A survey of historical War Office reports and the papers of Royal Army Medical Corps psychiatrists has provided both statistics and treatment strategies.
Results Reported psychiatric casualties were low in the Boer War, influenced, in part, by the misdiagnosis of psychosomatic disorders. Their incidence rose appreciably in the First World War with the identification of shell-shock and neurasthenia. The Second World War saw the collection of accurate data, and combat stress was treated efficiently, although few soldiers returned to fighting units.
Conclusions A constant relationship exists between the incidence of the total killed and wounded and the number of psychiatric casualties, mediated by the nature of the fighting and quality of the troops involved.
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INTRODUCTION |
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Earlier wars
Few reliable casualty statistics are available for wars fought in the late
19th century and, given the inconsistent nature of diagnosis, at best these
figures remain estimates. Although the concept of combat stress did not then
exist, it was recognised that soldiers could become debilitated by the
accumulated effects of active service
(Jones & Wessely, 1999).
Having treated the sick and wounded of the Boer War, Anthony Bowlby
(1855-1929) concluded that "the excitement of battle often following
prolonged mental strain and bodily fatigue" could produce a form of
neurasthenia characterised by "the appearance of functional nervous
symptoms" (Bowlby et al,
1901: 129). He detected no clinical difference between cases of
military and civilian neurasthenia, adding that
Among the symptoms we find prominently in the foreground pain, in the form of headache, generally posterior, pains in the neck, pains in the back and limbs, so that these cases are generally sent back as rheumatism; general feebleness of the muscular system amounting to paralysis more or less pronounced (Bowlby et al, 1901: 129).
Excluding the 14 pensions awarded for psychosis and 22 for depression, our survey of 6200 cases of soldiers medically discharged after the Boer War found only 11 examples where a psychological cause was diagnosed. These comprised six cases of nervous debility, three of neurasthenia, one of hysteria and one of nervous shock (Anon., various years). The last was Private John Lyons of the Royal West Surrey Regiment, who had been concussed but not wounded by a shell explosion at the battle of Colenso in December 1899. Returning to duty after a hospital admission, he continued to experience fatigue and weakness with a functional paralysis of his right arm and leg, tremor, dizziness and free-floating anxiety. Lyons was discharged from the Army in November 1900 with a war pension (Anon., various years; PIN71/3959). In time, his paresis remitted and he died in 1950 at the age of 82. This was, perhaps, one of earliest documented cases of what would later be called shell-shock. It appears, therefore, that unambiguous cases of combat fatigue were rarely identified in the Victorian period and that soldiers traumatised by the stress of battle appear to have somatised their fears often in the form of disordered action of the heart (DAH) or psychogenic rheumatism.
First World War
Military psychiatry was in its infancy during the First World War, as
physicians gradually appreciated that shell-shock, certain forms of trench
fever and DAH were functional disorders related to the stress of combat,
whether actual or envisaged. The collection of data about soldiers suffering
from psychological breakdown was haphazard and inconsistent. The statistical
appendix to the official medical history of the war, based on hospital
admission cards, provides an approximate guide to the incidence of psychiatric
casualties (Table 1). The
analysis was only performed for the first 2 years of the hostilities and
showed that psychological disorders accounted for 2.5% and 3.8% of all
admissions in 1914 and 1915 respectively
(Mitchell & Smith, 1931: 115). These percentages greatly understate the true figures as they do not
include functional somatic cases.
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Treatment of combat fatigue
At first, cases of combat fatigue were invalided to hospitals in the UK. In
July 1916, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Myers, consulting psychologist to the
British Expeditionary Force, persuaded the medical authorities to treat them
at base hospitals in France. However, the proximity to England and the
expectation of evacuation home tended to reinforce symptoms. At the end of the
year, Myers set up four special centres at the rear of Army
Areas for the reception of shell-shock cases, with the result that the
return to duty rate rose from 50% to 90%
(Myers, 1940: 92). Captain
William Brown, working at a casualty clearing station in December 1916
recorded that of 200 psychiatric admissions, 34% were transferred to base
hospitals and 66% returned to front-line units after an average of 7 days'
treatment (Salmon, 1917: 521).
Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Holmes, consulting neurologist, confirmed these
figures, writing that 80% of men returned to duty within 2-3 weeks, whereas if
sent to a base hospital in France the proportion fell to 30-40% and as low as
5% if invalided to the UK
(1939: 12). However, neither
Myers nor Holmes recorded what proportion returned to combat and of these how
many relapsed. In the year ending 30 June 1917, the military psychiatric
hospital for other ranks at Maghull succeeded in returning only 20.9% of its
patients to duty and, in the opinion of R. G. Rows, its senior medical
officer, few were fit for combat (Salmon,
1917: 525). Similarly, Thomas Lewis recorded that of 249 cases of
functional heart disease discharged from specialist cardiac hospitals in
Hampstead and Colchester between May and October 1917, only 23 (9.2%) went
back to fighting units overseas
(c. 1919: 1). The
rates reported by physicians, therefore, were noticeably lower than those
presented in the official history (Table
1).
The French military pioneered specialist neuropsychiatric centres situated close to the front line for the rapid treatment of combat stress. André Léri, working in the centre attached to the French Second Army, reported that 91% of admissions between July and October 1916 were returned to the fighting line (Salmon, 1917: 521). A review by G. Roussy and J. Boisseau in La Presse Médicale for 1916 concluded that these centres avoided:
"... sojourns (more dangerous the more they are prolonged) in the hospitals at the rear where these patients are generally lost. It allows of the treatment of other nervous and mental cases that are quickly curable and the direct evacuation to the special centres in the interior of those more seriously affected" (quoted by Salmon, 1917: 521).
Drawing on the French example and against considerable opposition, Myers opened an Advanced Sorting Centre close to the front early in 1917 where soldiers could be rapidly treated. Captain F. Dillon was apparently the officer responsible for implementing "the method of sedation, rest, occupation and return to duty carried out at a hospital centre close to the lines of trenches occupied by the Third Army" (Phillips, 1944: 8). However, Sir Arthur Sloggett, Director-General of the Medical Services of the British Forces in the Field, soon ordered the unit's closure, arguing that "we can't be encumbered with lunatics in Army Areas!" (Myers, 1940: 90).
Salmon and US forces
Through the work of Major Thomas Salmon, the US Army had the opportunity to
study the incidence and treatment of psychiatric disorders before it entered
the War. Salmon recommended the setting up of Advanced Section Lines of
Communication with 30-bed wards for the emergency treatment of mental
and nervous cases, concluding that:
"much can be done in dealing with [shell-shock] cases if they can be treated within a few hours after the onset of severe nervous symptoms. There is data to show that even by the time these cases are received at base hospitals additions have been made to the initial neurological disability and a colouring of invalidism given which frequently influences the prospects of recovery" (Salmon, 1917: 539-540).
Salmon also embarked on a major study of psychiatric disorders in the US Army. The incidence in 1918, he reported, was about twice that of the adult male population of the US and "no higher than in the armies of our Allies" (Salmon, 1918: 1). Further work demonstrated that combat or the threat of combat doubled the incidence of psychological disorders in officers but had little effect for enlisted men (Table 2). However, the latter showed an increased incidence of somatoform disorders such as neurocirculatory asthenia. For several diagnoses deployment to the Continent appeared to have little effect, although shell-shock was markedly greater for officers and men, as was psychoneurosis. The figures supported Mott's hypothesis that officers were more likely to exhibit the symptoms of neurasthenia, although his associated claim that other ranks had more conversion disorders was not confirmed (Mott, 1919: 131). Yet this study did not represent a straight comparison between men exposed to war and those deployed in home defence, as the European cohort includes troops with 13 months of occupation and peace-keeping duties.
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Although it had now become clear that psychiatric casualties were a major feature of modern warfare, military authorities continued to underestimate their incidence and a range of conflicting conclusions were drawn about their nature. Psychologically minded physicians, like Myers, believed that they were inevitable and that the solution lay in rapid and effective treatment, while many senior officers argued that with effective training and good leadership they were avoidable. Lord Gort, giving evidence to the Southborough Committee in 1921, argued that shell-shock would have been practically non-existent "in the face of strong morale and esprit de corps" (Southborough, 1922: 50).
Second World War
A retrospective War Office report estimated that between 5% and 30% of all
sick and wounded evacuated from battle areas in all theatres during the Second
World War were psychiatric casualties and that this figure depended largely on
the type of warfare fought. In the retreat to Dunkirk, it was calculated that
combat stress accounted for 10% of admissions to regimental aid posts
(Phillips, 1944: 6). In view
of the large numbers of servicemen admitted to psychiatric wards once they had
returned to the UK, this figure may understate the true incidence of
psychological disorders (Sargent &
Slater, 1940). It was argued that the fluid campaign in the
Western Desert in 1940-1941 produced low rates (sometimes only 2%), while
fighting in north-west Europe, akin to trench warfare, led to far higher
figures (War Office, 1951: 1).
In fact, detailed reports from the Western Desert reveal that the percentages
were considerably higher than claimed
(Table 3). Between July and
September 1943 psychiatric casualties and total battle casualties were
correlated at a significant level (Spearman's =1.0,
P=<0.001). In part, these variations can be explained by the
different phases of battle, as Major Craigie had observed that the incidence
of psychiatric casualties in the desert during 1942 depended "to some
extent on the nature of the action itself for instance, it is likely
to be higher during unsuccessful, purely defensive or unduly prolonged
actions" (Craigie, n.d.:
1).
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I Canadian Division in Italy
A comparison between the various units that made up 1 Canadian Division
fighting in Italy during 1944 showed that great differences could arise not
only between engagements but also between battalions
(Doyle, n.d.: 8). In the first
battle, for example, Unit 1, which was in action for only 1 of the 10 days'
fighting, recorded low psychiatric casualties
(Table 4). Unit 6, however,
which saw more intense combat, had an even lower figure, attributed to the
quality and training of its troops. Having had high psychiatric casualties in
the first battle, Unit 7 was thought to have improved its fighting qualities
by the time of the second engagement, when it had one of the lowest
percentages. Hence, psychiatric casualties are not simply an indicator of the
severity of combat but are also a reflection of the experience and
preparedness of soldiers. Interestingly, the division had been instructed
before the second action to adopt a severe disciplinary attitude to
psychiatric casualties in the belief that they were due to laxness and
weakness. Yet the overall percentages for the two battles were similar (22.1%
and 23.2%). Psychiatric admissions were found to be closely correlated with
total battle casualties for both engagements (Spearman's =0.8,
P=0.005 and 0.8, P=0.005, respectively). During this
campaign, the German 6-inch mortar and the six-barrelled mortar were feared
beyond their actual capacity to inflict harm. "Officers and mortar
specialists", recorded an Eighth Army morale report in 1944,
"appear to be generally of the opinion that their destructive effect is
not sufficient to justify their introduction to the British Army. The morale
effect of these weapons, however, in particular of the Nebelwerfer is so great
that the introduction of a similar weapon might well be considered on this
ground alone" (Anon.,
1944: 1-2).
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The Normandy offensive
In the Normandy campaign, the 21st Army Group encountered such intense
German resistance during July 1944 that it tested the endurance of even
seasoned troops. Planners had anticipated psychiatric casualties of the order
of 10-30% and, although the recorded rate fell within this range, it caused
"considerable anxiety amongst certain officers, some of whom believed
that the psychiatric problem would be negligible"
(Main, 1944: 2). During the
first 16 days of the campaign, psychiatric casualties in 8 Corps varied
considerably. The overall rate was 14.6%, while the three divisions recorded
rates of 21%, 11.6% and 14.7% (Phillips,
1944: 12-13). The second battle, a fast-moving armoured thrust
lasting only 5 days, led to a greatly reduced the Corps' rate of 11.6%. The
third battle, in which British troops encountered severe opposition, saw an
increase to 18%, although great variations occurred between units. These high
percentages were also a function of widespread battle fatigue in soliders who
had already fought in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, and, as a War Office
report concluded, "a number of men who broke down were experienced
veterans with excellent past records"
(War Office, 1951: 7).
Although some planners believed that the battle exhaustion crisis had passed,
heavy fighting involving the 1 Canadian Army north of Falaise during August
produced even higher rates of psychiatric casualties
(Copp, 1997: 150). It became
clear that the only effective way to reduce battle exhaustion levels was to
lower the intensity and duration of combat.
Return to duty rates
The main justification for deploying army psychiatrists to forward areas
was to facilitate the treatment of battle-fatigued troops so that they could
be returned to their units as quickly as possible. Although both Myers and
Holmes suggested that over 80% of soldiers treated in specialist centres in
the First World War returned to duty, they did not record how many went to
fighting units. The experience of the Second World War suggests that most
servicemen returned to non-combatant activity, although the percentage varied
considerably according to the intensity of battle and provision of psychiatric
services (Table 5). Major Doyle
of 1 Canadian Division concluded that "less than 20% of psychiatric
casualties can be returned to full combat duty after treatment"
(Doyle, n.d.: 11). These
figures were confirmed by Brigadier Sandiford, who visited Corps' psychiatric
teams in Italy after the battle of Casino. Between May and November 1944, the
return to duty rate fluctuated between 32% and 16%, while the specialist base
unit at Assisi sent only 19% of men back in the same medical category
(Sandiford, 1944: 45-46).
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US forces
Although individual psychiatrists collected statistics as campaigns were
fought and these guided decisions about treatment, systematic studies were not
undertaken until the postwar period. A retrospective study by Beebe &
DeBakey (1952) analysed
casualties for units engaged in combat, comparing the wounded with all other
admissions. They calculated correlation coefficients for two theatres in 1944,
the south-west Pacific and the Mediterranean, and for the 34 and 45 Divisions
in OctoberNovember 1943. Admissions to neuropsychiatric units were
closely correlated with the total wounded, with the exception of the
south-west Pacific (Beebe & DeBakey,
1952: 28). Incomplete data and a failure to recognise the nature
and importance of psychiatric casualties were proposed as reasons for the
anomaly. Three of the four examples showed that battle intensity was the
crucial variable. A further study by Beebe & Apple
(1958) involved a
representative sample of 2419 soldiers drawn from 150 companies that fought in
the Mediterranean and European theatres. Unit losses and the arrival of
replacements were recorded during periods of combat and showed a correlation
between the number of killed and wounded and the incidence of combat stress
reactions. The average breaking point for a rifleman in the Mediterranean
theatre of operations, for example, was 88 days of company combat days
in which the unit sustained at least one casualty
(Beebe & Apple, 1958).
Blood & Gauker (1993)
examined the relationship between the wounded in action rate (WIA) and disease
and non-battle injury rate (DNBI) for the 1 and 6 Divisions of the US Marine
Corps during their assault on Okinawa between April and June 1945. The two
rates were significantly correlated. As the fighting became more intense, so
there was a concomitant rise in the DNBI rate
(Blood & Gauker, 1993: 342). They found a similar correlation between the two measures in a study of
Marine units in Korea from February to June 1951.
Using the data collected by Beebe & Apple, Noy (1987) hypothesised that the intensity of battle accounted not only for the rate of psychiatric casualties but also for their general presentation. Comparing different types of departure from the battle-field, he found that psychiatric cases had experienced greater combat intensity than medical (excluding wounded in action) and disciplinary cases (Noy, 1987: 604). Most psychiatric casualties were of the dramatic, but transient, combat reaction type, while the medical and disciplinary cases appeared to be a response to sporadic stress.
Korean War
Total psychiatric casualties were recorded as 37 per 1000 among US
servicemen (Dean, 1997: 40).
However, the Korean War can be divided into two distinct phases with markedly
different rates of psychiatric casualties. During the first year,
characterised by movement, an exceptionally cold winter saw battle injuries
and wounds to US forces rise to 460 per 1000
(Jones, 1995b: 41).
From mid-1951, it became a static war of attrition, although troops were
better equipped and trained for the harsh winters. Battle injuries and wounds
to US forces fell to 170 per 1000 in 1951 and 57 per 1000 in 1952. No
statistics survive for UK units in the early phase of the war but by December
1952 the proportion of battle exhaustion to battle casualty cases for 1
Commonwealth Division was 21 per 1000 and from May 1952 to the end of the war
it fell to 18 per 1000 (Jones &
Palmer, 2000: 258). Battle exhaustion cases were found to be
closely correlated with battle casualties (Spearman's =0.8,
P=0.001).
Recent wars
The Vietnam War is often taken as an example of low-intensity combat and US
troops suffered relatively minor rates of battle injuries and wounds (from 62
per 1000 in 1965 to 120 per 1000 in 1968). Psychiatric casualties were low: 12
per 1000 (Dean, 1997: 40). The
prolonged campaign also gave rise to a new term, post-Vietnam syndrome, which
referred to servicemen suffering from chronic psychiatric symptoms or to those
who appeared well when demobilised but later developed an enduring
psychological disorder. The diagnosis of PTSD was developed as a consequence
of, or some might say as a stimulus to, these observations, but it lies
outside the scope of this paper.
The Yom Kippur War in 1973, by contrast, was a high-intensity campaign. At first, Israeli combat stress rates were reported as only 10% of total casualties but later were revised upwards to between 30% and 50% (Jones, 1995a: 21). Initial reports had failed to include servicemen who had been treated at forward medical units and returned to duty, men with light wounds who also suffered from psychological stress, and psychiatric casualties that arose 2 days after the cease-fire. Figures from this war showed that the peak incidence of combat fatigue was in the first few days, when physical casualties were at their greatest (Abraham, 1982: 21-22). The Lebanon War of 1982 had a short period of high-intensity combat followed by prolonged low-intensity fighting, when snipers and booby traps accounted for many casualties. Although the war generated a moderate overall rate of 23% for psychiatric casualties, 90% of these fell within a 3-month period (Noy, 1987: 602).
The Falklands War of 1982 lasted only 74 days, including a 25-day campaign from the landing at San Carlos Water to the recapture of Stanley. British troops lost 237 killed and 777 wounded, with 446 requiring significant hospital treatment. Psychiatric casualties were reported as 2% of all wounded, with 16 declared cases evacuated from the hospital ship Uganda (Price, 1984: 109). Further research by Abraham suggested that somatic presentations, such as functional deafness, concealed the true rate, which was about 8% a figure well below that of many of the battles fought during the Second World War (Abraham, 1982: 113). Explanations have included the fact that British troops were considered the élite of the army, with high morale. In addition, the 2-week transatlantic voyage gave them time to prepare for the conflict ahead, while they were also able to practise amphibious assault landings on St George's Island, which remained under British control (O'Connell, 1985). For the Argentine forces, psychiatric casualties also appear to have been surprisingly low and were reported as 4-5% (Jones, 1995a: 23). It has been suggested that the impossibility of evacuating casualties from the island helped to keep these figures down, in the same way that a firm regimental medical officer in the First World War could discourage cases of shell-shock (Jones, 1995a: 23).
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DISCUSSION |
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Cultural factors
Military and health beliefs of the society from which the soldiers were
drawn also need to be considered. In particular, ideas about acceptable levels
of casualties and the general level of psychological understanding are
pertinent. In the decade before the Boer War, when life expectancy for UK
males was only 44 years and knowledge about combat syndromes was embryonic,
observed psychiatric casualty rates were low, almost non-existent. But this
hides, as we have shown, psychiatric morbidity in the shape of DAH, rheumatism
and cases of sunstroke. The First World War saw a greater appreciation of the
stress of warfare, such that doctors became increasingly alert to psychiatric
symptoms and soldiers were better able to interpret their own responses to
traumatic situations. Such understanding remained at an early stage and
judgements continued to be clouded by Edwardian notions of courage and
duty.
By the Second World War, suggestions that psychiatric breakdown was due to a failure of personal morality or social degeneration had largely been abandoned. In their place, psychiatrists and military strategists sought measurable causes such as quality of training. In addition, Western society was less tolerant of the high casualty levels that had been incurred between 1914 and 1918, and offensives were planned so as to minimise losses. Nevertheless, some battles saw high rates of killed and wounded, notably the early stages of the Normandy campaign and the Monte Casino offensive in Italy, where concentrated shelling is said to have raised psychiatric casualties to 54% in the US 2 Armoured Division (Holmes, 1997: 218).
Trauma
The relationship between physical and psychological trauma is a complex
one. Advances in medical science have progressively reduced the proportion of
troops who die from their injuries, the rate falling from 20% in the Crimean
War to 6.1% in the First World War, 4.5% in the Second World War and 2.5% in
Korea (Beebe & DeBakey,
1952: 77). Improved survival rates may have increased the number
of potential psychiatric casualties and allowed the focus of attention to move
towards psychological issues. Alternatively, wounds could serve as a protector
against post-combat syndromes. Physicians during the First World War commented
that soldiers injured in battle were less likely to suffer from shell shock
and that many men with this disorder had not been wounded.
Psychiatric casualties may continue to be underreported. As the causes of combat fatigue have become better understood, it has been suggested that commanders may be reluctant to refer cases for treatment as they will be considered a sign of poor morale or indifferent leadership. Today, when adults expect to survive most diseases and when great emphasis is placed on the elimination of risk, Western society has little tolerance of death and wounding. It appears that this fundamental cultural change is reflected in the incidence of psychological disorders both during combat and as a delayed effect.
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Clinical Implications and Limitations |
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LIMITATIONS
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REFERENCES |
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Received for publication March 10, 2000. Revision received July 27, 2000. Accepted for publication August 14, 2000.