PTSD, Poetry and Brotherhood in World War One

UnTextbooked | A history podcast for the future

In World War One, millions of soldiers saw industrial warfare unlike anything they’ve seen before: artillery shells, flame throwers, poison gas. Those who saw the war on the frontlines came home with psychological wounds the world had never quite seen before. At one military hospital in Scotland named Craiglockhart, early psychiatrists treat PTSD and soldiers turn to poetry and brotherhood to heal.

UnTextbooked producer Faith Stanley sits down to talk with journalist and author Charles Glass. His recent book “Soldiers Don't Go Mad” is a comprehensive history of the Craiglockhart Military Hospital and the now famous poets to have come through its doors. Glass has also written “Americans in Paris”, “Tribes with Flags”, and “The Northern Front: An Iraq War Diary”, among other books. He divides his time among the south of France, Tuscany, London, and the Middle East.

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Show Notes:

(00:00) - World War One & Psychological Toll

(02:57) - Craiglockhart Military Psychiatric Hospital

(3:35) - Dr. William Halse Rivers and Dr. Arthur Brock

(6:25) - Literary Journal “The Hydra” and Poet Wilfred Owen

(9:25) - War Poet Siegfried Sassoon

(13:13) - The Role of Psychiatrists in War

(15:18) - Brotherhood and Poetry

(18:31) - Outro