大象传媒

Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh treated officers suffering from shell shock during World War One including poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. The building is now part of Edinburgh Napier University and houses the War Poets' Collection. Edi Stark reveals how new therapies pioneered at Craiglockhart during World War One contributed to the development of modern day psychiatry.

A variety of treatments were used at Craiglockhart. Siegfried Sassoon was treated by Captain William H Rivers, a distinguished psychiatrist, psychologist and social anthropologist. Rivers was familiar with the work of Freud and pioneered the "talking" cure.

"Ergotherapy", or cure by functioning, was created by Dr Arthur Brock who treated Wilfred Owen. He believed that the men would get better if they were engaged in meaningful activities. During his time at Craiglockhart, Owen was encouraged to teach at a local school and also edited The Hydra, the hospital's in-house magazine.

In the introduction to one edition of The Hydra Owen wrote, "Many of us who came to the hydro slightly ill are now getting dangerously well". These words were sadly prophetic. After he recovered, Owen returned to France where was killed on 4th November 1918, just one week before the Armistice.

Image courtesy of Edinburgh Napier University

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