Museums at Night: Whatever Happened to Shell Shock?

Shell shock is the phrase coined in World War I to describe what is now commonly referred to as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Professor Simon Wessely charts the evolution of military psychiatry, reviewing psychological disorders suffered by servicemen and women from 1900 to the present, considering the history of treatment in relation to contemporary medical priorities and health concerns.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely is Professor of Psychological Medicine and Regius Professor of Psychiatry at King’s College London and a Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist at King’s College and the Maudsley Hospitals.His doctorate is in epidemiology, and he has over 700 original publications, with an emphasis on the boundaries of medicine and psychiatry, unexplained symptoms and syndromes, population reactions to adversity, military health, epidemiology and others. He has co-authored books on chronic fatigue syndrome, randomised controlled trials and a history of military psychiatry. Professor Wessely is also President of the Royal Society of Medicine.