The horrors of war have tormented the human soul for centuries. Some veterans are able to reacclimate to normalcy, while others are paralyzed by the trauma of blood and violence. In Virginia Woolf's fictional masterpiece, Mrs. Dalloway, Septimus Smith endured the gruesome events of World War I, but returned home severely scarred. Due to the lack of modern medical and psychiatric knowledge available in today's society, Septimus' battle scars ultimately killed him. If his caregivers, Holmes (a doctor) and Bradshaw (a psychiatrist), had been more attuned to the true nature of his mental inabilities and possessed competent, modern medical knowledge, Septimus may not have ended his life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Let's examine Holmes first. Ignorance seems to be its fundamental nature; in fact, he sees distraction as a panacea. Encourages Septimus to listen to music, play golf, and/or take sleeping pills (2206). He also recommends Septimus take up some new hobbies, but discourages excessive excitement. These distractions may temporarily drown out the symptoms, but they don't help solve the problem. Outwardly, Septimus is perfectly healthy, so Holmes thinks there is "nothing serious but a little out of sorts" (2167) or "in a panic" (2238). It does not look beyond the external and internal disturbances to understand the real problems. If he had, Septimus might have recovered. Holmes is generally dismissive not only of Septimus' condition, but of other similar conditions as well. He sees no logical cause for conditions such as insomnia, anxiety, dreams and headaches. He thinks that people mostly have control over their own health (2206), so perhaps he believes that we are only as sick as we allow ourselves to be. Bradshaw has a different approach. As a psychiatrist, he has much more knowledge of the mind than of the body, which is Holmes' field of "expertise." Since he is a psychiatrist, he knows that he is better equipped to treat Septimus than Holmes is. He doesn't agree with some therapeutic ideas that have been offered to him, in particular with the suggestion of taking bromide, because for him sedating someone doesn't solve anything. He does not simply agree with Holmes, but with doctors in general. “It took half his time to fix [their] mistakes. Some were beyond repair” (2209). Suicide is, tragically, an irreversible circumstance but one that can result from such seemingly random "mistakes". Bradshaw proposes a treatment plan that he believes is better than Holmes' solution. He discourages overexcitement and thinks Septimus should be moved to a house in the country to rest for a few months. The only companions he would be allowed are nurses, with an occasional visit from Bradshaw himself because apparently, “[t]he people we are most fond of are no good for us when we are sick”” (2237). These premises, however, are highly suspect. This kind of plan certainly didn't do the narrator and protagonist of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper any good. Being surrounded by the care and support of loved ones should be a necessity in any treatment plan. To make the healing process go more smoothly, family members must have a complete understanding of the circumstances. Bradshaw's understanding of Septimus's inabilities is, of course, in many ways sympathetic. He sees internal concerns and is sensitive to them. “[H]e never spoke of 'madness'; he called it not” (2239).