Shell-shock and other neuropsychiatric problems

A man was subjected to shell-shock August 11, 1916, at the Somme. He lost consciousness for five hours and was picked up stuporous with verbal amnesia, which soon passed leaving only a difficulty in getting the right word promptly. He began to have frightful dreams of falling into a hole and of exertions to avoid falling, whereupon he would awake with a feeling of anxiety that would last some time. Treatment caused the dreams to disappear.

There remained, however, a powerful post-oniric suggestion. Any slight surprise would cause the fear of falling to reappear. There was a sort of derived phobia, against any military act that would need to be performed upon sudden order. He developed a blind anger against any commanding officer who gave a brusque order. After the crisis of anger he would fall into tears and a feeling of profound depression coupled with precordial anxiety. There was also a chronic aortitis physically determined. The man himself had a vague idea of the relationship of his fear of surprise to the old nightmares.