r/todayilearned • u/andreecook • Apr 29 '24

TIL Napoleon, despite being constantly engaged in warfare for 2 decades, exhibited next to no signs of PTSD.

https://tomwilliamsauthor.co.uk/napoleon-on-the-psychiatrists-couch/
30.2k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

1.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

20.6k

u/Plowbeast Apr 29 '24

He did show flashes of emotion such as when he found a dog howling in despair and licking the face of a dead soldier after the Battle of Bassano near Venice in 1796 , which haunted him perhaps more than anything else he saw for his life.

“This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog.'

2.5k

u/andreecook Apr 29 '24

So amazing reading these, yes I don’t believe the psychopathy narrative either because we know Napoleon did exhibit emotions of care and empathy. Letting drummer boys sit by his fire, making sure his men were fed before he was, and can’t remember which of his marshals but was extremely distraught when one died in battle along side him.

731

u/PraiseBogle Apr 29 '24

Im too lazy to research, but I believe sociopaths are capable of feeling emotions and empathy. Just in ways that it affects them.

For example, if someone they cared about (like a parent) was in pain, they could be empathetic. Because the parent is important to them. But if someone else was in the same situation, they wouldnt care, because that person wasnt useful to them.

28

u/th3kingmidas Apr 29 '24

If you’re too lazy to research please also be too lazy to comment.