[precaryous]

"In Henry IV, Part 1 (2.3.86) Shakespeare has given an account of what could be called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), four centuries before the condition was formulated, and years before the word stress acquired its present usage.

Hotspur’s wife, Kate, was complaining about her husband’s regular involvement in mortal combats and his consequent odd behaviour:"

"O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?

For what offence have I this fortnight been

A banish’d woman from my Harry’s bed?

Tell me, sweet lord, what is’t that takes from thee

Thy stomach, pleasure and thy golden sleep?

Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth,

And start so often when thou sit’st alone?

Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks;

And given my treasures and my rights of thee

To thick-eyed musing and curst melancholy?

In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watch’d,

And heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;

Speak terms of manage [horsemanship] to thy bounding steed;

Cry ‘Courage! to the field!’ And thou hast talk’d

Of sallies and retires, of trenches, tents,

Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets,

Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin,

Of prisoners’ ransom and of soldiers slain,

And all the currents of a heady fight.

Thy spirit within thee hath been so at war,

And thus hath so bestirr’d thee in thy sleep,

That beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow

Like bubbles in a late-disturbed stream;

And in thy face strange motions have appear’d,

Such as we see when men restrain their breath

On some great sudden hest. O, what portents are these?

Some heavy business hath my lord in hand,

And I must know it, else he loves me not."

[MotownJohnny]

Nothing is really "new" - people were just as intelligent and sophisticated in past eras, and had all of the same problems, even though they may not have been recognized, named, and described as they are now. I'm sure some day in the future, doctors will look through the historical records of our era and point out that so and so was suffering from XYZ syndrome or whatever, it just wasn't a recognized disease or condition "back then". Look at the way autism has become "known" in the past 20-30 years - who ever heard of autism or aspberger's back in the 1960s? Almost no one, and very few cases were diagnosed.

[Open Eyes]

Yes Mowtown, you are correct, PTSD has plagued mankind going all the way back. Often in literature great men have been described as often dealing with great melancholy and depressive moods lasting for days. As we investigate ancient cultures we also find that these cultures were using different drug concoctions in and effort to help them better manage these troubling conditions.

I think that many leaders suffered from PTSD, Lincoln and his wife both struggled a great deal. I think Hemingway also struggled with PTSD and finally could no longer take it, after all, he saw a lot of bad things in humanity take place.

[Teacake]

Somerset Maugham was a physician and a storyteller. The Razors Edge is a physician's observations of PTSD put into two composite case studies. Larry went to the first world war. Sophia lost her husband and baby. Larry worked out his salvation with physical labor, philosophical inquiry, travel and yogic practices. Sophia was lost. She was banished for acting out hyperarousal sexually and modulating with drugs. At some point Larry has become a wounded healer, but when he tries to save Sophia he only dulls her life force and she complains of being Magdalene to his Jesus. The compassionate doctor lets us see her suntanned and sexy by the sea, back on opiates before she finds her much sought death

Larry becomes a cab driver. Anyone needing PTSD insight needs to take more cabs. My last driver was a translator in Iraq. Medicaid pays for cabs. It's good therapy.