Did the Residents of Craiglock

            Did the residents of Craiglockhart Suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?.
             The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder report that 7.8 percent of Americans will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in their lifetime. Also, about 30 percent of people who have spent time in war zones will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, stems from a traumatic experience. Of Pat Barker's characters in Regeneration most had experienced the most distressing events I could ever imagine. This brings me to wonder if the characters in Barker's book did not have PTSD rather than the original diagnoses of shell shock or war neurosis that they received. I believe that the characters in Barker's book did in fact have PTSD.
             To be diagnosed with PTSD you must meet the six criteria named in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. PTSD was not added to this book until 1980, but had doctors and psychiatrists of World War One known about this disease I believe they would have found themselves diagnosing a great percentage of their patients with it rather then shell shock or war neurosis. .
             The criteria for diagnosing PTSD are labeled "A" through "F." Each of the six criteria must be met in order for a diagnosis. The first criteria, "A", states that the person must have been "exposed to a catastrophic event involving actual or threatened death or injury, or a threat to the personal integrity of him/herself or others" (DSM-III 387). It also states that the person must have responded by having extreme fear, vulnerability, or terror (DSM-III 387). Craiglockhart was a haven for people that fit into this category. Burns had a German soldier's stomach explode all over his face and decomposing flesh entered his mouth (Barker 19). Many of the men in Craiglockhart saw their friends and comrades die. They saw hundreds of dead and rotting corpses.