SOLDIERS' NIGHTMARES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 16

SOLDIERS' NIGHTMARES.

THE HORRORS OF MODERN WARFARE The dreams and nightmares of wounded soldiers at the front have been studied by a j correspondent of the "Lancet," who is In charge of an ambulance. His object was ."to inquire into the psychical consequences 'of the emotions inseparable from active fighting, as shown in dreams and other subconscious manifestations." "Neurotic subjects, as one would expect, react in a most striking fashion to tbe shock of explosions in their immediate vicinity." he says 1 "Some develop a tendency to somnambulism, and are met wandering about the premises with terror and anxiety depicted on their faces in anxious search of their regiments. Short of somnambulism the dread of losing contact with their fellows seems to be felt with extreme frequency, and horror of isolation constitutes the commonest nightmare of men In the first fighting line. Tbey dream that they are wandering through endless trenches, ns complicated as an artificial maze, or are picking their way through lonesome forests whence all but they have fled. Tbe slightest noise during sleep calls up visions of exploding shells or the tramp of armed men. throwing them into a frenzy of shouting terror, to the indignation of their resting fellows. Oddly enough, these men are as brave as the rest iv face of real danger. Another common night terror is the dream of a sudden call to arms and the Inability to find some indispensable article of attire or combat, a conception productive of intense mental agony. Live shells naturally occupy a large share or subconscious attention, and an exasperating nightmare is tbe discovery iv one's bed of a shell ready and willing to burst, associated with the usual nightmare incapacity to execute the necessary movements to get rid of it. Several men have bad dreams centring round the inability to withdraw the bayonet from the enemy's , body wheu ui-sently required for •«lfdefenca."