Insanity In Pat Barker's Regeneration

Pat Barkers novel, Regeneration (1991) is an example of the power literature has on telling the truth within the walls that history provides. The novel Regeneration is set in the time period of World War 1 (WW1) where at the time mental illness was misunderstood and the stigma that men who didn’t fight in the war where cowards. This belief that men who didn’t fight in WW1 encouraged gender stereotypes and roles of men and women at the time as men where believed to all have a brave and heroic nature, whilst the women remained passive and voiceless. The novel’s dependence on representations of male and females is articulated through the patriarchal systems as well as its ability to link mental illness in men to gender non-compliance. The novel

Of the time the medical review board didn’t recognise the existence of shell-shock, instead they believed that it was put on by cowards trying to escape combat. These attitudes are largely reflective of the time period, when psychology was not yet an established field. The idea of madness is central to Regeneration, as the novel foregrounds how war generates insanity in everyone even those responsible for curing mental illness. Nearly all of the characters in Regeneration show signs of insanity and Pat Barker represents Dr Yeallands shock therapy treatment methods (electricity is used to intentionally to trigger a brief seizure, which causes changes in the brains chemistry that is able reverses symptoms of certain mental illnesses (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2016) to be an insane form of treatment to cure mental illness. Dr Yealland uses this treatment method to cure traumatised soldiers only for them to return back to the battle fields to be slaughtered, or develop even worse forms of mental illness. Barker articulates Dr Yeallands methods to be a torturous way to cure traumatised soldiers

Neurasthenia is a medical condition which is a result from a weakness in the nerves, and it is a condition that is associated with mainly being an emotional disturbance. Peoples first instances in World War I where that those who where recognized with a mental disorder or disease and couldn’t fight where characterized as cowardly, there remained a strong sense that diseases like neurasthenia were ultimately the result of a weak will. The cultural attitudes towards neurasthenia developed the theme that no one is completely qualified to judge the sane from the insane, insanity finds its way into us all. Sassoon was diagnosed with neurasthenia, but his view of the war struck many people as much saner than the strategies of military leaders. Rivers informs Sassoon that "taking unnecessary risks" is an indication of mental illness, Sassoon asks, "What's an 'unnecessary risk' anyway? The maddest thing I ever did was under orders" (Page