NZ researchers track health legacy of first world war

Severe mental health problems and alcoholism were part of the “long shadow” cast by New Zealand’s involvement in the first world war, according to research led by Otago and Massey universities.

Massey University war historian Glyn Harper says that men affected by the trauma of war were not encouraged to talk about the events they witnessed and were offered no professional help.

Harper is among the six co-authors of a study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health that looks at the impact of NZ war deaths and casualties from the 1914-18 war.