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184THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTHsituation. These are brief psychotic disorders, if we want to usethe official term, but putting particular emphasis on war in generaland the specific circumstances of a colonial war. After the twomajor world wars there was a host of publications on the mentalpathology of soldiers engaged in action as well as the civilianrefugees and bombing victims. The novel physiognomy of someof the case histories mentioned here provides confirmation, ifwe still needed it, that this colonial war is a new phenomenoneven in the pathology it produces.Another well-established notion that deserves in our opinionto be reevaluated is that these psychotic reactions are relativelybenign. Anniversary reactions, i.e., cases where the entire personalityhas been definitively dislocated, have of course beendescribed, but always as exceptional cases. We believe on thecontrary that the pathological processes tend as a rule to be frequentlymalignant. These disorders last for months, wage a massiveattack on the ego, and almost invariably leave behind avulnerability virtually visible to the naked eye. In all evidencethe future of these patients is compromised. The following examplewill illustrate our standpoint.In a certain African country, independent for some years now,we have had the opp0rtunity of treating a patriot and formerresistance fighter. The man, in his thirties, would come and askus for advice and help, since he was afflicted with insomnia togetherwith anxiety attacks and obsession with suicide around acertain date in the year. The critical date corresponded to theday he had been ordered to place a bomb somewhere. Tenpeople had perished during the attack. 2323 The circumstances surrounding the symptoms are interesting for severalreasons. Several months after his country had gained independence hehad made the acquaintance of nationals from the former colonizing nation.They became friends. These men and women welcomed the newly acquiredindependence and unhesitatingly paid tribute to the courage of the patriotsin the national liberation struggle. The militant was then overcome by a kindof vertigo. He anxiously asked himself whether among the victims of his bombCOLONIAL WAR AND MENTAL DISORDERS185This militant, who never for a moment had thought of recanting,fully realized the price he had had to pay in his person fornational independence. Such borderline cases pose the questionof responsibility in the context of the revolution.The observations quoted here cover the period 1954 to 1959.Certain patients were examined in Algeria either in hospitals orprivate practice. The others were treated in the National LiberationArmy's medical facilities.SERIES AFive cases have been collected here, all involving Algeriansor Europeans who had clearly defined symptoms of severe reactivedisorders.Case No. I-Impotence in an Algerian following the rapehis wifeB--is a twenty-six-year-old man. He has been referred to usby the Medical Services of the National Liberation Front for persistentmigraines and insomnia. A former taxi driver, he has beena militant in the nationalist parties since the age of eighteen. In1955 he became a member of an FLN (Front de LiberationNationale) unit. On several occasions he used his taxi to carrypropaganda leaflets and political leaders. Confronted with awidening crackdown, the FLN decided to wage war in the urbanthere might have been individuals similar to his new acquaintances. It wastrue the bombed cafe was known to be the haunt of notorious racists, butnothing could stop any passerby from entering and having a drink. From thatday on the man tried to avoid thinking of past events. But paradoxically a fewdays before the critical date the first symptoms would break out. They havebeen a regular occurrence ever since.In other words, our actions never cease to haunt us. The way they are ordered,organized, and reasoned can be a posteriori radically transformed. It isby no means the least of the traps history and its many determinations set forus. But can we escape vertigo? Who dares claim that vertigo does not prey onevery life?~~----.-.~-.