Heroes and Hysterics: 'Partisan Hysteria' and Communist State-building in Yugoslavia after 1945

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

This article investigates a novel type of war neurosis defined by Yugoslav psychiatrists in the aftermath of the Second World War. This uniquely Yugoslav war trauma-'partisan hysteria'aEuro"was diagnosed exclusively in Communist resistance soldiers-partisans-and did not manifest itself in the form of battle exhaustion or anxiety, as was the case in other armies. Rather, it demonstrated a heightened willingness to fight, and consisted of simulations of wartime battles. Yugoslav psychiatrists argued that 'partisan hysteria' most frequently affected uneducated and immature partisans, who were given important political responsibilities but experienced severe trauma due to their own inadequacy. I argue that 'partisan hysteria' served as an opportunity for upper-middle-class psychiatric professionals to criticise the increasing upward social mobility after the socialist revolution of 1945. Surprisingly, this touched upon an issue that had already provoked deep disquiet within the Communist Party, and resonated with the Party's own concerns regarding social mobility.

Original languageEnglish
JournalSocial History of Medicine
Volume27
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)349-371
Number of pages23
ISSN0951-631X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2014

    Research areas

  • war trauma, psychoanalysis, military psychiatry, Communist revolution

ID: 255366555