“And thence Doubt Spring around the Stock of Truth”: The Personal and Scientific Experience of the Psychiatrist Angelo Alberti during World War I

Abstract

Following the health crisis that hit the Italian Army in the first year of World War I, the High Command established a Neuropsychiatric Service and in addition also a Military Medical School in San Giorgio di Nogaro (Udine) to train medical officers. The psychiatrist Angelo Alberti worked as Psychiatric Consultant in the Neuropsychiatric Service and at the same time he was Assistant Professor in the Military Medical School. His scientific work and the clinical activity carried out in San Giorgio di Nogaro provided new elements to understand and to redefine the position of Italian Psychiatry in the widespread phenomenon of War psycho-neuroses. The aim of the present paper is to show that the cross-study of archival documents and literature detected a more complex and multifaceted scenario of Italian Psychiatry than was assumed before. The paper presents details, that have not been reported until now.