1915

British Army Medical Department allocates 200 beds at Hampstead Military Hospital solely for research into soldier’s heart (Dyde, 236). . . . treatment outcomes had improved significantly, but they could not be sure why. . . . Electrocardiograms found nothing suspicious. . . . despite the brand-new physiological equipment and latest diagnostic techniques – the hallmarks of the new cardiology – there was no firm evidence for any of the explanatory frameworks that surrounded the functional heart disorders: no evidence of poison existed, no structural changes were detected, and no specific nervous pathology was found (239). . . . Lewis decided to rename the disorder effort syndrome: “Furthermore, since the new cardiologists had posited subjective distress [with effort] as their diagnostic starting point, physicians could begin to pay some attention to their patients’ mental states. . . . Psychological states continued to be important at the Hampstead military hospital” (241).