Addicted to war (Medium)

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. Im Neil.

Sam

And Im Sam. In this , well be hearing about the extraordinary life of a well-known BBC journalist, Fergal Keane. As a BBC war correspondent, witnessed some of the most violent events in recent history. Fergals reporting helped his television audiences make sense of horrors of war, but underneath there were more personal reasons attracting him to the frontline.

Neil

Despite the , Fergal found himself going back again and again to report from war zones. It gave him something he couldn't anywhere else  � a massive rush of adrenaline, and Fergal started to worry that he was becoming addicted to .

Sam

In his new book, ‘The Madness: A Memoir of War, Fear and PTSD’, Fergal discusses living PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, a type of psychological suffering that results from witnessing extreme violence. Well hear about key events in Fergals life, and, as usual, well be learning some new vocabulary as well.

Neil

But , I have a question for you, Sam. The term, PTSD, is quite new, but descriptions of the mental suffering war go back to ancient times. Something similar to PTSD is mentioned in Viking sagas and in stories about World Wars. So, what was the name of the PTSD-like condition suffered by many soldiers during the First World ? Was it:

a) nostalgia?

b) shell shock? or,

c) stress?

Sam

I think the answer is shell shock.

Neil

OK, Sam, Ill reveal the answer later the programme. Fergal Keane, who was born in Ireland, had seen violence ever since the early days of his covering the fighting in Belfast. He had already reported from wars all over the world when, in 1994, he sent to cover the civil war in Rwanda. But what Fergal saw there shocked him like nothing before, as told Mobeen Azhar, presenter of BBC World Service programme, Lives Less Ordinary.

Fergal Keane

…and I began to nightmares of Rwanda. And of course, at that stage, you know, it was obvious that I was traumatised but, , did I go to a psychiatrist? No, I didnt'. I kept doing the job.

Mobeen Azhar

Did you to other things?

Fergal Keane

Booze.

Mobeen Azhar

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

Fergal Keane

You know, the truth is, I was an alcoholic long before I got to Rwanda. But was in the kind of functioning alcoholic - what they call, you know, managing it stage of the of disease.

Sam

When Fergal returned home from Rwanda, he started having nightmares  � upsetting and frightening dreams. It obvious he was traumatised from the violence he had seen, but still Fergal didnt go to a psychiatrist  � medical doctor who specialises in treating mental illness.

Neil

Instead, Fergal turned to booze  � an informal name alcohol. Fergal had been addicted to alcohol before he arrived in Rwanda, but now he had another addiction to with  � the need to keep returning to war. Fergal knew it wasnt healthy, but he couldnt stop.

Around the year 2001, it seemed that war was everywhere, and Fergal kept on reporting  � in Sudan, Iraq, , and Lebanon. But the nightmares didnt stop, and his mental health got worse and worse. Here Fergal takes up story with BBC World Service programme, Lives Less Ordinary.

Fergal Keane

I reach a point where I can't that anymore, and it's not dramatic, it's a slow, steady erosion… and that ends with a breakdown, and admission hospital, and this time diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and fulfilling the kind of essential criteria as the psychiatrist it of hypervigilance, nightmares, flashbacks… more nightmares than flashbacks… and the sense of being under threat, and anger.

Azhar

How did you feel?

Fergal Keane

Relief, I think. You know, there's a name to this.

Azhar

You might expect Fergal to call it a day at this point, but that's not how addiction works. just kept getting pulled back in.

Neil

Fergal had a nervous breakdown  � a period of acute mental leaving him unable to cope with life. After the terrible things Fergal had witnessed, you might expect him to it a day  � a phrase meaning to decide to stop what you are doing. But Fergals addictions made impossible.

Sam

After his diagnosis of PTSD, he got support and was finally able to stay away from and war.

Neil

OK, its time to reveal the answer to my question. I asked about the name the PTSD-like condition suffered by soldiers during World War One.

Sam

And I said it was shell shock.

Neil

Which was the correct answer. Right, lets recap the vocabulary weve learned from the extraordinary life Fergal Keane, the war correspondent who suffered PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder  � a mental illness experienced after violent shocking events.

Sam

A nightmare is an upsetting and frightening dream.

Neil

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

Sam

Booze is slang for alcohol.

Neil

A breakdown, is an period of psychological illness leaving you unable to cope with life.

Sam

And finally, the phrase call it day means to stop what you are doing because you no longer want to. Once again, our six minutes up. Goodbye for now!

Neil

Goodbye!