W.H.R. Rivers
During WWI, W.H.R. Rivers served in the British Expeditionary Force as a General, where he observed the symptoms of stricken soldiers. As an accomplished psychiatrist, Rivers concluded that the symptoms displayed were psychological in nature. Based on his observations, Rivers developed a treatment method which implemented Psychotherapy to treat Shell Shock. His method offered a balance between facing one’s fears and repressing traumatic experiences which focused on healing the soldiers' minds. Rivers' new treatment was not widely accepted at first. It took years until his ideas took root and changed the way doctors and the public understood shell shock. Rivers' innovative use of psychotherapy allowed soldiers to lead a normal post-war life.
Rivers' empathy for the soldiers, who were unjustly executed, provoked him to take a stand defending them.
"When I asked him if he would undertake that work... his eyes shone with a new light I had not seen before, and he paced his rooms for several minutes full of delight."
- Colleague, Leonard E. Shore, 1922
"When I asked him if he would undertake that work... his eyes shone with a new light I had not seen before, and he paced his rooms for several minutes full of delight."
- Colleague, Leonard E. Shore, 1922
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