Samuel Pepys and post-traumatic stress disorder

Abstract

Samuel Pepys's diary allows us an opportunity to see how a man of acknowledged ability and stability coped with the severe psychological trauma of being involved in the Great Fire of London in 1666. His self-monitoring provides an excellent record of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and an account of his coping behaviour. Despite being one of the newest categories of mental disorder in the official nomenclature, post-traumatic stress disorder has obviously had a long existence.