PTSD in History: From Uruk to Baghdad

Abstract

The historical evolution of the concept of psychological trauma is relevant to the establishment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a syndrome. Exposure to overwhelming terror can lead to troubling memories, which has been a central theme in the literature since the time of Gilgamesh. The isolated anecdote thus evolved into a clinical entity whose medical and psychiatric complexity underwent large-scale development during and immediately after World War I. The scientific integration of the traumatic stress entity included three main steps: (i) a scientific interest created by clinical anecdotes, (ii) the integration of a syndrome when the observable scientific facts can be reproduced using reliable criteria, and (iii) a pathogenic specificity corroborating the fundamentals of the clinical observation. PU - SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG PI - CHAM PA - GEWERBESTRASSE 11, CHAM, CH-6330, SWITZERLAND