GDG- Now: CW PTSD was: Custer: G'burg, LBH & Philbrick

[Batrinque at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/21/2012 10:03:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
mdblough1 at comcast.net writes:


I  think it would be very tough, in the absence of ability to ask follow up 
 questions, to distinguish between the fact that being in combat changes a  
person (also complicated in the Civil War by the fact that, in some cases, 
the  person might be years older than when hen left) and an incapacitating 
mental  disorder. One case in which I know it's suspected is Tom Chamberlain, 
Joshua's  younger brother. Tom drank himself to death. 
 
 
And I suspect that professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists) use "PTSD"  
much more narrowly than we laymen do, a specific condition meeting a strict 
and  narrow set of defined criteria, whereas we everyday history buffs 
loosely apply  the tern to a broader range of post-combat behaviors that do not, 
strictly  speaking, fit that technical description.

Bruce  Trinque
Amston, CT