Writing a paper of no fewer than 5 pages, which will include research and appropriate documentation (due in 3 weeks). It will address a significant contemporary issue of a global nature relevant to the course (Liberal Education, War and Culture), the student's major (Business Management), and the Liberal Education program. It should synthesize multiple disciplinary perspectives and propose critical and creative responses. This presents a rather tall order, but with some planning, we can accomplish all the requirements. Below are two topics for your consideration for the paper and presentation for this course. Please choose one.
1. PTSD is a serious cultural concern today. We first saw it manifest in the Great War, where Meyers labeled it shell shock. Soldiers appeared uninjured but manifested strange symptoms - auditory and visual symptoms, physical symptoms, insomnia, and a long list of others. Meyers decided that the concussion from nearby exploding shells had rattled the soldiers' brains and called it shell shock. He later decided both the diagnosis and label were incorrect, but the label stuck. It became known in World War II as combat fatigue or battle fatigue; Vietnam brought new labels, with Vietnam Syndrome and finally Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, which we still commonly use today. Cultural views and customs have reflected the difficulties we face regarding the condition and how to respond to it.
When war threatened in the late 1930s, Britain still had large numbers of Great War veterans suffering from shell shock and receiving pensions. Both Britain and the United States wanted to avoid the problem of shell shock in a future war. They devised a plan to screen potential soldiers. Psychiatrists would interview each man with a series of questions designed to detect potential for psychological breakdown. Reality resulted in non-psychiatrists asking only three questions, one of which was: Do you like girls? Still, nearly 1.5 million Americans were "screened out" as a result of the process, with a declaration that the problem was solved and that shell shock would not manifest in World War II. Wrong. The number one reason for battlefield evacuation of Americans during World War II was psychiatric trauma. Other countries experienced the same problems. The condition remained a mystery. What was it? Was it real? Was it psychological or physical? Was it, as Patton believed, simply cowardice? With such disagreement and such difficulty in detecting diagnosing, and treating it, controversy continued and escalated with Vietnam. In 1980, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder became an official entry in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic Manual, declaring PTSD as a real condition requiring detection, diagnosis, and treatment of sufferers. This did not settle the controversy surrounding the issue. Military personnel, historians, psychiatrists, civilians, and soldiers did not agree whether PTSD was even real, let alone on other issues regarding it. Movies such as Rambo, The Taxi Driver, and Stop Loss present views on the condition. The Great War poetry we read in the course reflects shell shock through the experiences of soldiers themselves. The medical profession weighed in - again, in disagreement. The military incorporated research and training - and exit counseling - to educate and help soldiers. Today, in Iraq and Afghanistan, we see it manifest again and call it Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The soldier appears uninjured but manifests symptoms such as visual and audio trauma, insomnia, etc., sounding much like shell shock. During the American Civil War, cultural norms denied acknowledgement of psychiatric trauma as a result of war. Today, we do not ask if our veterans suffer from it but how badly they suffer from it.
How does shell shock fit into our study, our majors, and our lives? Ben Shephard calls the spread of psychiatric trauma from the military sectors to civilian sectors a culture of trauma; in other words, we are all in trauma all the time. We might or might not agree with his assessment, but we are exposed to the consequences of psychiatric trauma as a result of war, whether we experience war firsthand or not - in our relationships, in our jobs, and in our daily lives. Understanding these consequences and how they have shaped warfare and culture and the relationship between the two is critical to our local and global responsibilities regarding war and culture.
This paper will analyze the views of historians, civilians, soldiers, psychiatrists, and writers regarding shell shock, showing changes in cultural views and customs over time. The paper will argue that understanding shell shock is important for our decision-making as responsible citizens in local and global communities.
2. Both the American Civil War and the Great War resulted in death tolls so massive that cultural views and customs regarding war and death changed as a result. Faust and Winter provide examination and analysis in the works we read for the course.
This paper will analyze the views of historians, civilians, soldiers, psychiatrists, and writers regarding cultural views and customs regarding war and death, showing changes in cultural views and customs over time. The paper will argue that understanding massive death tolls as a result of war is important for our decision-making as responsible citizens in local and global communities.
The paper will be no fewer than 5 pages and no more than 6 pages, will include an abstract of 100-150 words, will use and correctly document a minimum of four sources, will not use encyclopedias or Wikipedia, will be double-spaced with Times New Roman 12 font, will synthesize disparate views, will present proper grammar and punctuation, and will be submitted as a Word attachment.