February 26, 2014, by Lindsay Brooke

Did the trauma of World War One lead to great creativity?

Dr Victoria Tischler from the School of Medicine explores what trauma can do to the mind for BBC online’s coverage marking the Centenary of World War One.

Dr Tischler co-presents – Did the Trauma of World War One lead to great creativity? – with Politician and Academic, Baroness Shirley Williams.

In World War One the British army treated over 80,000 cases of shell shock. The army founded and requisitioned hospitals specifically to treat those suffering from mental illness.

Dr Tischler visits Maudsley Hospital in London where voluntary patients suffering from shell shock received a short course of treatment which involved creative pastimes like carpentry and gardening designed. As well as treating patients, early research was conducted into the puzzling symptoms of mental trauma. Dr Victoria Tischler, professor of behavioural sciences at The University of Nottingham, discusses the psychology of trauma, how it is diagnosed, and how creativity can provide a way of dealing trauma.

 

 

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