Abstract
This paper aims to illustrate the activity of Clinica di Malattie Nervose e Mentali di Pisa during the First World War. Mostly, it will refer to the role of the psychiatrist in society and to the issue of war psychiatry, which had already been debated during colonial conflicts. The paper will take into consideration the scientific problem of the traumatic aetiology of psychiatric disorders. In particular, it will study the case of Clinica di Pisa and the several reports that the clinic itself produced. The examined cases show the apparent contradiction of an “impossible disease”, diagnosed in the military and not in civilians. In fact, during this period of time, the Italian psychiatric science seems not to contemplate the possibility that war could cause a psychiatric condition. The paper aims to solve this dilemma, showing how in such cases the clinical practice differs and considering further developments.