Shell Shock Talks in London - Tickets now half price.

[Maudsley Learning]

Date: Wednesday 27th November 2013
Time: 3pm - 5pm
Address: ORTUS learning & events centre, 82-96 Grove Lane, London, SE5 8SN

Maudsley Learning are delighted to be hosting an afternoon of two very interesting presentations followed by Q&A sessions with Professor Sir Simon Wessely and Professor Edgar Jones.

Talk 1: Shell shock or Cowardice? The Life and Death of Private Harry Farr
By Professor Sir Simon Wessely

Harry Farr was one of 346 British servicemen executed during the First World War. His case became a cause celebre, and the focus of a long standing campaign to have all those executed for military offences during the conflict pardoned, culminating in a scheduled Judicial Review of his case in the High Court, for which Prof. Wessely was an expert witness. His tragic case raises many questions. What exactly happened to him, and why was he executed? What is “shell shock”? And as we approach the centenary of the outbreak of the war, is it right to rewrite history?

About Professor Sir Simon Wessely:
Professor Sir Simon Wessely is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’sCollege London and Head of its department of psychological medicine, Vice Dean for Academic, Teaching and Training at the Institute of Psychiatry, as well as Director of the King’s Centre for Military Health Research. He is also honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at King’s College Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital, as well as Civilian Consultant Advisor in Psychiatry to the British Army. He was knighted in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to military healthcare and to medicine More recently, Wessely’s work was the first to show that service in the 1991 Gulf War had had a significant effect on the health of UK servicemen and women. Other work suggested a link to particular vaccination schedules used to protect against biological warfare, and also a link with psychological stress. His group also confirmed that classic psychiatric injury, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was not a sufficient explanation for the observed health problems.

Talk 2: How the First World War changed the treatment of mental illness
By Professor Edgar Jones

The First World War was a radical agent of social and cultural change. Not only did it touch the lives of most UK families, it was the trigger for the transformation of the treatment of mental illness. The phenomenon of shell shock changed the way that doctors thought about psychiatric disorders. The military crisis created, by what we now know to be Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, engaged the attention of leading physicians and neurologists producing new causal theories and treatment initiatives. The post-war period witnessed the birth of psychological medicine and, though its full effects were not experienced until after-1945, the foundations of out-patient services and psychological treatments were laid. This presentation explores the impact of the First World War on the understanding of mental health.

About Professor Edgar Jones:
Edgar Jones is professor of the history of medicine and psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry and King’s Centre for Military Health Research. He originally trained as an historian before completing a doctorate at Guy’s Hospital in clinical psychopathology and training as an analytical psychotherapist. Edgar Jones is programme leader for the MSc in War and Psychiatry and has worked in the field of military psychiatry conducting studies on shell shock, Gulf War syndrome and post-traumatic stress disorder. In addition, he has researched the problems of prisoners-of-war and the effectiveness of interventions designed to re-integrate them into civilian society. He is the co-author of Shell Shock to PTSD, Military Psychiatry from 1900 to the Gulf, Hove: Psychology Press, Maudsley Monograph (2005). He recently conducted a study of morale in the armed forces and the impact of entertainment for the British Forces Foundation. Edgar Jones is currently researching how UK service personnel managed the transition from the military to civilian life after the Second World War.

Join us to be informed, entertained and leave the event with a deeper understanding of our past and how it continues to define our future!

This event is open to anyone but should be of particular interest to members of the armed forces, ex-members of the armed forces in other industries, health and social care professionals, war veterans, historians and of course anyone with an interest in mental health and wellbeing.

Get your half price tickets here (usually £15): http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shell-sho ... oftheORTUS

Visit http://www.maudsleylearning.com/events/ ... ptsd-talk/ for full details.

Hope to see you there!