Shellshocked Soldiers and Treatment Methods in Pat Barker's "Regeneration"

Abstract

This thesis, based on Pat Barker's "Regeneration" is going to explore psychological conditions and their treatments during the First World War. Firstly, by examining the definition and the history of shellshock, one can observe its origins in female hysteria. Consequently, stigmas, such as loss of masculinity and cowardice, are being associated with shellshock soldiers. These stigmatizations result in unfavourable treatment methods that are illustrated by Dr. Lewis Yealland's faradism, in Barker's "Regeneration". In addition, this thesis is going to analyze, W.H.R. Rivers and his humane Freudian psychoanalytical treatment methods that can be seen in the novel.