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Originally Posted by Jenny
One of my all-time favorite books. And I love Graves poetry as well. He may have been right Re. trench-foot. We now know that a person's moral can play havoc with the immune system. Poor discipline can, lead to poor moral, and vice versa. There is plenty of anecdotal information out there on how one's personal outlook affects one's health. Whether this is due to seratonin levels, or something else ought to be studied. There is a definite mind/body connection, and when you throw in the generalized stress of trench warfare, poor living conditions, etc., one could certainly go into a downward slide culminating in trench-foot.
Now how would one set up such a study? Or would one rely on retrospective evidence? Wonder if the Journal of Military Medicine might be interested? Are there articles of the epidemiology of trench-foot? I wonder if my local SPH would know? I need to find a psychiatrist specializing in brain biochemistry, and infantry related military medicine. Here's a question: What is the effect of serotonin levels on the development of trench-foot? If high serotonin levels prevent the development of trench-foot, could/should one give troops in the field doses of Prozac , or similar drugs to up the saratonin levels? Under battlefield conditions, how would you administer said drug? Pill, patch, long-lasting injections? Sorry about the tangent, but this might be worth a f/u. Jenny. I may get my call from Stockholm yet!
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I don't buy Graves' arguments about trench foot. Trench foot was caused by long periods of immersion of a soldier's foot in wet or damp conditions (in a trench or elsewhere), inadequate foot wear, and a lack of dry socks and boots and mostly useless treatment/preventative measures. The common treatments and preventatives for it - whale oil etc were somewhat effective but only for short periods of time. If you were exposed to poorly sighted, badly drained trenches for prolonged periods you were likely to get some trench foot, no matter who good or bad your morale was. There was a tendency in The Great War (as at times in World War II) to blame the infantryman for the problems he suffered - trench foot, shell shock, trench fever, to name a few were all seen as the result of some sort of individual deficit, rather than the result of the environment and system the men found themselves in.
As for the relationship between chemical imbalances and morale, this should be recast as the relationship between chemical changes in the brain as a result of exposure to prolonged trauma - much of this has been studied already and has largely been accepted (so no trip to Stockholm for you!) as being mostly valid within certain parameters. Such changes are mostly temporary but in some cases it can continue for years after the trauma exposure. However, it is only one of a number of possible causes of behavioural changes as a result of exposure to trauma. It is a relatively deterministic explanation and one that does not always fit the evidence we have re recovery from battle trauma - given that cognitive-emotional treatments can be equally effective.
As for giving troops anti-depressants - it would have been ill advisable and pointless, given that sharp reflexes were one of the few things that help keep you alive on the Western front. Also any such drugs given may well get in the way of the soldier's cognitive abilities to process the trauma in the short term, probably increasing trauma reactions rather than reducing them.
So don't buy your ticket to Sweden just yet....
cheers
neil