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

[Batrinque at aol.com]

A 1996 study, "Physical and Mental Health Costs of Traumatic War  
Experiences Among Civil War Veterans" can be found on-line at 
_https://webfiles.uci.edu/rsilver/Pizarro,%20Silver%20&%20Prause%20Archives%20Gen%20Psychiatry%20200
6.pdf_ 
(https://webfiles.uci.edu/rsilver/Pizarro,%20Silver%20&%20Prause%20Archives%20Gen%20Psychiatry%202006.pdf) 
 
 
The authors of the paper say:
 
"In conclusion, the present study brings us a step closer
to  understanding the long-term health consequences of
traumatic war experiences.  Not only was the Civil War
the beginning of a recognition of mental health  prob-
lems caused by war, labeled “irritable heart syndrome,”
but many  recognize the Civil War as laying the roots of
modern cardiology.

Our  analysis is the first to use objective military and
medical records to  demonstrate the development of post-
war disease ailments over the life  course among veter-
ans of any war. We found strong relations between  trau-
matic exposure (eg, witnessing a larger percentage of
company  death), comorbid disease, mental health ail-
ments, and early death. Despite  the age of the data set,
there have been few other opportunities to examine  stan-
dardized medical examinations over a postwar period un-
til all  soldiers have died. In fact, modern data sets could
not provide this kind of  information. Unfortunately, it
is likely that the deleterious health effects  seen in a war
conducted more than 130 years ago are applicable to  the
health and well-being of soldiers fighting wars in the 21st
century,  as recent studies have suggested."  

Bruce  Trinque
Amston, CT