Was Achilles Suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

[Aurelia]

Interesting article about PTSD as a cultural and moral construct...

 

 

AN HISTORIAN from Manchester Metropolitan University has refuted one of the most long-standing theories about the link between Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Ancient Greece.

 

In his book chapter Beyond the Universal Soldier: Combat Trauma in Classical Antiquity, Dr Jason Crowley argues against the commonly-held idea that sufferers of PTSD can be found as far back in history as Achilles and Odysseus.

 

Dr Crowley said that the roots of this belief in the universality of PTSD can be traced back to the end of the Vietnam War.

 

 

Article continues here

[Caius Julius]

_{This is an interesting point of view and one that makes total sense.  I mean, PTSD can't be something that's just popped onto our landscape in the last 30-40 years it has to have been around since the beginning of time....Nice find, thanks.}

Edited September 8, 2014 by Caius Julius

[Aurelia]

This is an interesting point of view and one that makes total sense.  I mean, PTSD can't be something that's just popped onto our landscape in the last 30-40 years

 

However, this is precisely what the historian in the article seems to be stating: that ancient warriors (e.g. in Ancient Greece) did not suffer from PTSD because they were used to the brutal conditions of those times. I'm not sure if I agree with that, I mean, even if one is used to living in a brutal society, all the violence must still have some sort of negative psychological effect on a person. Maybe to a lesser extent but still...

[Caius Julius]

I agree totally.  Regardless of their society, all of the brutality and violence has to take a toll on their mental state.  I mean, it's not brutality all the time, right?  When at home with their family or walking around town, etc.  There has to be lots of down time in between battles and wars so that's when I think the PTSD would come into play.  I'm sure there were bad dreams from time to time about these horror's they lived through.  It had to take a negative toll on them, IMO.