Addicted to war ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from  BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.  

And I’m Sam. In this programme, we’ll be  hearing about the extraordinary life of  

a well-known BBC journalist, Fergal  Keane. As a BBC war correspondent,  

Fergal witnessed some of the most  violent events in recent history.  

Fergal’s reporting helped his television  audiences make sense of the horrors of war,

but underneath there were more personal  reasons attracting him to the frontline.

Despite the danger, Fergal found himself going  back again and again to report from war zones. It

gave him something he couldn't get anywhere else  – a massive rush of adrenaline, and Fergal started

to worry that he was becoming addicted to war. In his new book, ‘The Madness: A Memoir of War,  

Fear and PTSD’, Fergal discusses living with  PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, 

a type of psychological suffering that results  from witnessing extreme violence. We’ll hear about  

some key events in Fergal’s life, and, as usual,  we’ll be learning some new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you,  Sam. The term, PTSD, is quite new,  

but descriptions of the mental suffering of war go  back to ancient times. Something similar to PTSD

is mentioned in Viking sagas and in stories  about both World Wars. So, what was the name

of the PTSD-like condition suffered by many  soldiers during the First World War? Was it:  

a) nostalgia, b) shell shock? or c) combat stress? I think the answer is shell shock.

OK, Sam, I’ll reveal the answer later in the  programme. Fergal Keane, who was born in Ireland,

had seen violence ever since the early days of  his career covering the fighting in Belfast. He

had already reported from wars all over the  world when, in 1994, he was sent to cover

the civil war in Rwanda. But what Fergal  saw there shocked him like nothing before,

as he told Mobeen Azhar, presenter of BBC World  Service programme, Lives Less Ordinary.

…and I began to have nightmares of Rwanda.  And of course, at that stage, you know,

it was obvious that I was traumatised but,  again, did I go to a psychiatrist? No, I didn't.

I kept doing the job. Did you turn to other things?

Booze. Booze. I mean, how much booze are we talking?

You know, the truth is, I was an alcoholic long  before I got to Rwanda. But I was in the kind

of functioning alcoholic - what they call, you  know, managing it stage of the of the disease.

When Fergal returned home from Rwanda, he started  having nightmares – upsetting and frightening

dreams. It was obvious he was traumatised from  the violence he had seen, but still Fergal

didn’t go to a psychiatrist – a medical doctor  who specialises in treating mental illness.

Instead, Fergal turned to booze – an informal  name for alcohol. Fergal had been addicted to

alcohol before he arrived in Rwanda, but now  he had another addiction to cope with – the

need to keep returning to war. Fergal knew  it wasn’t healthy, but he couldn’t stop.

Around the year 2001, it seemed that  war was everywhere, and Fergal kept

on reporting – in Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan,  and Lebanon. But the nightmares didn’t stop,

and his mental health got worse and worse.  Here Fergal takes up the story with BBC  

World Service programme, Lives Less Ordinary. I reach a point where I can't carry that anymore,

and it's not dramatic, it's a slow, steady  erosion… and that ends with a breakdown,

and admission to hospital, and this time  diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and

fulfilling the kind of essential criteria as the  psychiatrist saw it of hypervigilance, nightmares,

flashbacks… more nightmares than flashbacks… and  the sense of being under threat, and anger.

How did you feel? Relief, I think.

You know, there's a name to this. You might expect Fergal to call it a

day at this point, but that's not how addiction  works. He just kept getting pulled back in.

Fergal had a nervous breakdown – a period  of acute mental illness leaving him unable

to cope with life. After the terrible things  Fergal had witnessed, you might expect him to

call it a day – a phrase meaning to decide  to stop what you are doing. But Fergal’s

addictions made that impossible. After his diagnosis of PTSD,

he got support and was finally able  to stay away from booze and war.  

OK, it’s time to reveal the answer to my question.  I asked about the name of the PTSD-like condition

suffered by soldiers during World War One. And I said it was shell shock.

Which was the correct answer. Right, let’s  recap the vocabulary we’ve learned from the

extraordinary life of Fergal Keane, the  war correspondent who suffered PTSD or

post-traumatic stress disorder – a mental illness  experienced after violent or shocking events.

A nightmare is an upsetting  and frightening dream.

A psychiatrist is a type of doctor  who specialises in mental illness.

Booze is slang for alcohol. A breakdown, is an acute period of psychological

illness leaving you unable to cope with life. And finally, the phrase call it a day means to

stop what you are doing because you no longer  want to. Once again, our six minutes are up.

Goodbye for now! Goodbye!