Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War

by Peter Barham

Although the shell-shocked British soldier of World War I has been a favored subject in both fiction and nonfiction, focus has been on the stories of officers, and the history of the rank-and-file servicemen who were psychiatric casualties has never been told. This profoundly moving book recounts the poignant, sometimes ribald histories of this neglected group for the first time. Peter Barham draws on reports from the front lines, case histories, personal letters, and war pensions files to trace the lives and fortunes of a large cast of ex-servicemen who suffered mental breakdowns. He describes their confinements to asylums, the reactions of families to their relatives’ plight, the turmoil of the soldiers when they returned home—and the uphill struggle they faced trying to secure justice from the bureaucratic labyrinth that was the Ministry of Pensions. His book gives a new perspective to the impact of the Great War and to current controversies about disputed postwar maladies.

Genres: History, Psychology, World War I, War, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Mental Illness

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Peter Barham is a British psychologist, historian, and mental health advocate whose career spans more than five decades. His work bridges clinical research, psychoanalysis, historical scholarship, activism, and filmmaking. With doctorates in abnormal psychology from the University of Durham and modern history from the University of Cambridge, Barham has combined academic rigor with hands-on engagement in mental health reform.
A chartered psychologist and elected fellow of the British Psychological Society, he was recognized for his outstanding contributions to psychological understandings of psychosis. He founded the Hamlet Trust, an organization that led grassroots mental health initiatives in Central and Eastern Europe with the support of George Soros’ Open Society Institute.
Barham is the author of several influential books, including Schizophrenia and Human Value (1984; revised 1995), Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War (2004, 2007), and Closing the Asylum: The mental patient in modern society (1992; reissued 2020).

Reviews

[Steelwhisper · Rating 5 out of 5]

We all know what happened to the likes of Sassoon and Graves, those gentlemanly, Oxbridge-educated officers whose "nerves gave out", diagnosed with neurasthenia and treated in a halfway humane, halfway understanding manner mainly because they were upper middle class or upperclass, well-bred and well-educated. Still thought, as was such a rampant thinking then, that the greater sensibility of the noble and refined classes gave leave to stronger nervous and emotional reactions.

This book concentrates however on the poor sods of the other ranks who, denuded of any understanding from those who stayed at home or those officers commanding them from the plushy chairs, first were refused their proper diagnosis of shell-shock, then quickly hidden in asylums for the insane, rather than properly treated.

As a result the content is, in hindsight, quite heartbreaking and I found myself gritting my teeth rather often at the class-driven disregard and callousness directed at people who indeed had been largely led to the Big Meatgrinder in France and other parts of Europe like sheep to the slaughterbank, and who, when they did their bit alright and even managed not to end up as a casualty of needless attrition, weren't even properly cared for. And don't say they didn't all know better, what this book really does is show in detail the cruelty and callousness of classdriven medicine with all its prejudices.

A great and interesting read, recommended for everyone interested in shell-shock and the other ranks.

[Stephanie McGarrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've ever read a 400+ page book on such a niche topic. I had to give it a higher rating because its very well researched. If you ever want to do a paper on the bureaucratic production of "shell shock" and other mental afflictions after WWI, the class divisions in mental health care or the lunatic protests of the Victorian era everything you need to know is here.

Maybe I'm just a super boring person but I found this really interesting, and surprisingly relevant to me since I'm going through a similar process as many of these soldiers of having to prove my insanity.

[Jane Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of us have a vague idea about "shell shock", but this is a particularly opportune time to consider the many thousands of casualties of WW1 who suffered mental health problems. Barham describes how the system treated them, right up to the end of their lives, and tells the story of many individual men and their families. They were forgotten because officialdom wanted to forget them, and it is right that their stories are told.

[Sandy Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for reference for "Fred's Funeral".

[Stephen Bywater · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thorough and scholarly account of those who suffered and were often forgotten.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wrote a review of this book in 2005: http://hhs.sagepub.com/content/18/3/1...