Barbed wire disease: British medical and lay prisoners of war and their perceptions of mental illness arising from captivity, 1939 to 1947.

Abstract

This article examines medical and lay perceptions of captivity-induced psychopathologies observed among British prisoners of war during the Second World War. Drawing on medical reports, POW memoirs, and camp publications, it explores how both medical and lay observers understood captivity-induced neurotic illness as a collective, environmentally driven disorder rather than an individual pathology. By reintroducing 'barbed wire disease' into the historical narrative, this paper challenges trauma-centred interpretations of military psychiatry and highlights the social and environmental dimensions of mental illness in captivity, offering new perspectives on rehabilitation, resilience, and the boundaries between mental health and ill-health.