Rendering PTSD Eternal & The Medicalization of Trauma in the Canadian Military.

In recent years significant attention has been focused on the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst members of the Canadian Forces. The military?s Ombudsman, in particular, has been active in problematizing the mental health of Canadian soldiers, as well as their treatment (both social and medical). In the production of this narrative of PTSD amongst Canadian soldiers, one piece of art has become particularly prominent. Colin Gill?s 1919 painting titled ?Canadian Observation Post?, which depicts a soldier suffering from ?shell shock? in WWI, is featured in various special reports, opinions pieces, and other publications produced by the Ombudsman. It is also prominently displayed in Canada?s War Museum.This paper questions why this painting from WWI has been featured so regularly, how it has become useful, and how it functions within emergent narratives concerning PTSD in the Canadian Forces.The paper argues that the use of the painting has been called upon to visually constitute PTSD as an illness that soldiers have always experienced. The recent ?discovery? of PTSD and the medicalization of trauma is then positioned as evidence of progress (in the military and in medicine) and improved care. This paper disrupts such narratives by questioning the political effects of treating trauma as an illness (Young 1997, Edkins 2003). It is argued PTSD functions as a strategy of intelligibility and a governmental technology that marginalizes questions concerning masculinity, violence, sovereignty, and the psy disciplines, in addition to Canada?s ?peacekeeping? role in producing a liberal world order and in the so-called war on terror. The paper ends by re-casting Gill?s painting in light of these critiques. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]