Contributions to the study of shell shock : being an account of certain cases treated by hypnosis / by Charles S. Myers.

  • Charles Samuel Myers
Date:
1916?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Contributions to the study of shell shock : being an account of certain cases treated by hypnosis / by Charles S. Myers. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    4T appeared. At the same time the previous occipital numb¬ ness and left-sided hypalgesia vanished. Transferred to a base hospital, and thence for three weeks to a hospital in England, he has made an uninterrupted recovery and has now rejoined his unit. Rhythmic Spasmodic Movements. Case 5 (Case-number 362).—Private -, aged 23, seen by me at a casualty clearing station the day after admission. Three days ago, he said, the Germans sent over “whizz- bangs and coal-boxes ” in reply to our shelling, and he had been told that he “got pitched up in the air.” But the last thing he remembered of the occasion was being on guard, the next was digging himself out of the fallen sand¬ bags. He remembered running then to the shell trench, but he “found this too hot’’and returned to the firing trench, going to his dug-out, when he noticed that his eye¬ sight was defective. He lay in the dug-out, flinching each time a shell came, and “trying to get into the smallest possible corner.” At night he came out to endeavour to “do guard,” but someone noticed that he was making involuntary spasmodic movements which had begun a short while pre¬ viously. He was ordered to return to the dug-out, was helped to the regimental aid-post by a man on each side of him, and was sent to hospital. He had enlisted for the war and had been in France eight months. He had also “got shook up a bit ” four months ago, when five or six bombs threw dirt in his face. His hands and his handwriting then became shaky, but he did not “report sick.” His appearance was that of a strong, robust, and honest man. He seemed depressed and begged me to make him well. His most noticeable movements were in his legs, but occasionally he shrugged his shoulders. On admission, I am told, the latter movements were much more marked, and he kept diving beneath the bedclothes, bringing up his knees to meet his chin. To-day the leg movements were due solely to strong, periodic, simultaneous contractions of the two sartorius muscles, the rate of contraction of which varied from 60 to 70 per minute, increasing to 90 during the excite¬ ment of examination. These involuntary movements were observed by the sister to continue during apparent sleep. Pulling down the patella was found to inhibit one or two contractions of the corresponding sartorius. His knees remained extended when the thighs were passively raised from the bed. He complained of severe headache, “ as if I had had a hammer dropped on my head.” His legs were very tremulous, especially when he lifted them ; his hands and tongue were only faintly tremulous. His right leg and arm and the right side of the face and chest (not the abdo-