Special preview: Mental health disorders during the Civil War
Below is an excerpt from my newest article, “19th Century Mental Health Disorders and the American Civil War,” which will appear in the upcoming Winter issue of the Journal of Lancaster General Hospital.
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John Mead, known as “Colonel” to visitors, lived as a hermit in caves and rock shelters along the Lancaster County side of the Susquehanna River from the late 19th century until his death in 1917. Although it is not known if Mead’s honorific accurately represented his military rank, he was a veteran whose unusual lifestyle was thought to be related to the mental health effects of service in the Civil War as a young man.[i] If so, he was one of many Pennsylvania veterans to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which was not officially recognized as an illness until the 3rd edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) in 1980.[ii] This article explores the causes of and medical response to widespread psychological trauma resulting from the Civil War.
