"Alexander the Great & PTSD?" Topic

A recent book, The Madness of Alexander the Great, concludes that Alexander suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

What do you think?

I think they are a couple of thousand years out of the loop.

If so, it must have been from very early in his life. I'm sure he caused a lot. By the same token the whole world would have been for a multitude of reasons. I suggest only an academic from the 21st century first world with all our comforts, so remote from disease, violence and an untimely death could come up with such a diagnosis for a patient unobserved.

After encountering war elephants at The Hydaspes his troops certainly did-
that's one of the reasons they mutinied, the next kingdom to be invaded had even more than Porus did…reputedly 500

He didn't need PTSD to be a murderous thug.

Lycanthropy. It's always been covered up.

John Maxwell O'Brien went for alcoholism in Alexander. The Invisible Enemy.

I like the Werewolf angle Jack

Oh now I want to convert an entire force of werewolf Macedonian pike and companion cavalry! Think of the spectacle!

Alright, that's an absolutely BS theory. Someone needed "look at me" time and some cash flow to pay his bills.

Right up front, I'll say this: I have PTSD. I know a number of other veterans with it. NOTHING that I know about the syndrome (and I know a LOT) leads me to think that Alexander ever suffered from it.

PTSD does cause some folks to "act out", but it never causes them to be violent or destructive towards others. If someone with PTSD is going to hurt someone, it will be himself. That's fact. Most folks with PTSD tend to be hyper-vigilent, always looking at the situation, using situational awareness to guide themselves whenever they are out of their home, or other comfort zone.

That's my 2-cents. You can take it for what it's worth.

V/R

I've diagnosed the Buddha with depression using the same remote technique.

Think about it: a man in the prime of his life, successful by any measure, suddenly loses interest in the things he used to enjoy and thinks life is not worth living?

Classic clinical depression right there…

With fur, naturally, Senor Squint.

There was a review of this book in the recent Slingshot. It's apparently rather an unadulterated hatchet job.

Doug

Alexander the Thug deserves no less.

I have to read the book first.

I always thought Alexander the Great suffered from my-dad-set-all-this-up-then-I-inherited-a-great-plan-and-supporting-infrastructure-and-once-I-played-everything-he-had-already-won-before-starting-I-didn't-really-have-the-skill-set-to-strike-out-on-my-own-in-the-same-way syndrome.

It's more common than you think.

Some things don't change about human behavior, but psycho analyzing someone from 2300 years ago is a guessing game. What did any of the ancients say about him? Even they (or all but one?) are about 3rd hand, if you start from the viewpoint of AtG.

My guess: success and sycophantic followers, leading to megalomania and hubris, leading to killing anyone who disagrees with you – and then it just tailspins into oblivion ( = more enemies = more killing, etc). I don't usually go in for too many conspiracy theories, but I'd give a 50/50 guess/chance to Ollie Stone's conclusion that his generals or someone like Antipater or his agents poisoned him. He'd probably gone way past the line of what they expected in their king.

What Rallynow said. I don't see how one can comment in an informed manner without having read the book and seen the evidence being used. The few reviews I just checked were lukewarm, at best, towards the idea of PTSD, but they also suggested that this is a debate worth having.

I mean, how would we really know?

He lived thousands of years ago and only tiny fragments of his life were documented.

I had the chance to read the book and I'll paraphrase a bit from the introduction chapter.

The writer says he was an US Army Officer in the Departement of Combat Psychiatry at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Washington DC during the 80s.
There he became interested in the combat stress of Vietnam veterans. He has written two other books about the subject of PTSD and multiple articles.

Now, what I read, and still remember, of the book looked good. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about but it isn't solely on Alexander. He draws parallels with soldiers in modern warfare and also has examples of other ancient people who probably suffered from PTSD as well. (Two of those examples were to be found in Herodotus if I recall correctly)

If you keep an open mind about it then give the book a chance. And as with any history book you have to keep a inquisitive attitude.

But it'll come down to personal preference anyway. Those who adore Alexander will no doubt find it hogwash; those who find him a mass murderer will probably be partial to it.