Tavistock: From Treating Soldiers to the Rumour of Mass-Psychology Control

On September 27, 1920, the Tavistock Clinic at 51 Tavistock Square in London received its first patient, a child. The clinic was created by doctors who had treated soldiers with “shell shock” during the First World War. Shell shock was the old name for soldiers who trembled, could not sleep, were terrified, stopped speaking or could not return to fighting after bombardment. The doctors wanted to bring those treatments to civilians. That starting point later created a large rumour: if a group of doctors learned how to return a terrified soldier to activity, did it also learn how to make a whole society afraid, obedient and ready to change its behaviour?