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This fall I'm take a graduate level course in "Psychopathology" as one of the three remaining courses I need to get me up to 60 credit hours for eligibility to obtain my LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) for work next Spring. One of the assignments is to read a biography on a person with a possible mental illness that I can diagnosis using the DSM-IV and then get into the diagnosis and treatment of it afterwards (not necessarily for this particular person). The first person that came to mind was MacArthur, but is there any other famous military person and the name of a book that you would recommend??

Thanks!

Montgomery would be interesting. I'm sure that a Google search or Amazon will turn up many books on whomever you choose.

While most Great Generals have a touch of Crazy, MacArthur was a Great Crazy with a touch of leadership....


who made quit the career of hanging the Marines out to dry, then letting the Marines bail him out. Then taking credit for it.

Patton would rate as well, Blucher thought he was pregnant to a French Guardsman etc etc etc.

Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.

Orde wingate would probably be a good one. But you could probably pick just about any succesful soldier and find something. Daniel sickles might be interesting as well because he used temporary insanity as a succesful defence for murder.

another good posibility would be Hugh Dowding, later in life he would see and speak to the ghosts of pilots who died under his command.

while examples of crazed generals aren't out-of-the-way, they tend towards megalomania, or high-self-importance combined w/ guilt. but a bio of a higher-ranked officer will be 'pre-filtered' by the biographer.

many line soldiers have published memoirs that describe their psychological symptoms. Wm. Manchester's 'Goodbye, Darkness' was particularly chilling, Robert Leckie's 'Helmet for my Pillow', Eugene Sledge's 'With the Old Breed' - these books describe combat-fatigue / battle-stress symptoms directly.

there's no lack of literature on the subject, but IMO the first-person accounts would give you better material for analysis.

Yes but MacArthur's legacy is so fraudulent.

He married an heiress, getting him in bed with the Randolf Hearst crowd, so he always got good press.

He attacked the Bonus Army in the Mall of Washington DC ( the WWI vets who were still waiting and demanding their enlistment bonus in 1929)

He Got the Medal of Honor for running away from the Philippines

He wanted to start a Nuclear war in Kora.

He tried to court Marshal the Commanding Marine General for only advancing 30 miles a day.

And then when 200,000 screaming Chines came over the boarder only the Marines single Division was in any type of combat order, and MacArthur bravely ran away again.

Patton well he slapped someone, big deal.

Going back to Civil War era, Stonewall Jackson certainly had his idiosyncracies, not sure if they were ever diagnosed. Sherman, on the other hand, was labeled as crazy in the beginning of the war, for daring to suggest the Union would need 200,000 Soldiers. I don't remember if he was actually hospitalized or just placed on leave, but it was described as some type of breakdown. (of course, events later proved his estimates on the low side...)

And oh after Patton slapped a guy with PTSD (wrong but old school) he was thoroughly degraded, something a megalomaniac would walk away from, then he was given a fake command of a fake army another thing a megalomaniac would walk away from. And he did it so well the Germans defended the wrong beach for the whole summer. Saving God knows how many thousands of lives at the price of Patton's ego.

Patton is the greatest US Army General ever... and about that whole 'lets invade Russia thing' but for for National war fatigue, and the dubious nature of starting wars; strategically and tactically he was right

But Sherman's march to the sea insured the division between Americans would last another hundred years.

Do a search and read the complete Matrix forums works of Japan/Helmut/Linda/etc [:D]

I very recently finished reading, Hero:The Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia. He clearly had some issues while being a stellar leader.

ORIGINAL: Justus2

Going back to Civil War era, Stonewall Jackson certainly had his idiosyncracies, not sure if they were ever diagnosed. Sherman, on the other hand, was labeled as crazy in the beginning of the war, for daring to suggest the Union would need 200,000 Soldiers. I don't remember if he was actually hospitalized or just placed on leave, but it was described as some type of breakdown. (of course, events later proved his estimates on the low side...)

I was going to suggest General Thomas Jonathan Jackson as well... recommend the biography by Lt Col Henderson.

Monty was indeed a rather murky personality. I've always got the impression that he was incredibly insecure and desperate for recognition. I understand that he spend some of his formative years at school down in Tasmania, and if his later personality was anything to go by he will not have been a popular student, doubly so it being in Australia where we are not all that keen on people that think they're somehow inherently superior. I doubt that he was actively bullied but would almost certainly have been ostracised and considered a 'dickhead' or a 'wanker' in Aussie speak. There was some incident in his earlier years in the army (the exact specifics of which escape me atm) which had overtones of bullying and a certain nasty sadism (can't really remember but I think he set another cadet on fire as a 'joke'). This incident may have been another instance of him trying to 'fit in' but typically going too far. When he took command in North Africa he immediately attempted to transform himself from a regulation spit and polish British officer into an 'Old Desert Hand' by donning an Aussie slouch hat and adorning it with insignia and badges that he had no right to wear. I imagine the troops thought it ridiculous but were prepared to ignore it as long as the 8th Army kept winning. He never seemed able to understand how his utterances would be heard by others, and had an unshakeable belief in his own genius, when to any disinterested observer his concepts were pedestrian. I've always felt his delusional belief in his (and only his) abilities was an overcompensation for the fact that throughout his life he felt rejected as a human being (and little wonder, he really was a prick). I think the outward Monty was that facade that he built up to hide this unfortunate piece of self knowledge from his daily conciousness.......but then I'm not a psychologist, I just feel that I've met that character type before many times in the real world.

Caligula.

There has been much debate about this unusual man's state of mind, and plenty written.

ORIGINAL: Fallschirmjager

Do a search and read the complete Matrix forums works of Japan/Helmut/Linda/etc [:D]

[&o]

Biggus63 that had to be the best description of have seen of Monty ever. I would suggest you write about him.

My first thought: Steve Spurier.

(Since NYGiants lives in the South, he'll know why Spurrier readily comes to mind.)