Shell shocked is a type of post-traumatic stress disorder that occurred during World War I. Many Army officials tried to cover up shell shocked because they wanted to keep those men in the battlefield. Throughout the novel Maisie Dobbs, there were several cases of shell shocked. Doctors Charles S. Myers and William McDougall looked into shell shocked and started doing studies with the soldiers that were affected by it. Shell shocked did have a few treatments which consisted of a bromide, massage, electrical faradization, and a milk diet, but many people thought that shell shocked should be treated with military discipline. Not only soldiers could get shell shocked, but also people that had loved ones in the war had a small case of it. During …show more content…
She started out just knitting socks for the soldiers, until one day her college roommate Iris told her how she was going to be a VAC nurse for the Army. She was inspired by Iris and also had some inspiration by Enid. Enid and Maisie met at the Compton’s house where they were both servants. Enid later became a TNT maker in a munitions factory. The last time they saw each other was when Enid was getting on the train to go back to work the night the munitions factory blew up. Enid told Maisie that she needed to be thinking about what she could do for the soldiers now, and focus on her education later. Maisie then lied about her age to become a nurse in the …show more content…
It was one of the leading causes of death during World War I and soldiers weren’t the only ones to be affected by it. In this novel, it showed that Maisie Dobbs and many others had some type of shell shocked and some were affected more than others. Many of the soldiers will live the rest of lives at The Retreat and many others will have never made it to The Retreat. If everybody could have had some type of treatment, the soldiers wouldn’t probably have been so psychologically disturbed. Jacqueline Winspear was the author of this great novel, Maisie