Regeneration Analysis: The Relationship of Rivers to one of His Patients

Consider the relationship of Rivers to one of his patients (e.g., Prior, Burns, Sassoon). What challenges does the patient present to Rivers and does Rivers overcome those challenges?

As Rivers is a psychiatrist at Craiglockhart, his perceptions of the world are altered by the patients that he treats. Characters such as Prior, Burns and Anderson influence the doctor, but the person who changes Rivers the most is Sassoon, the author of the declaration. Sassoon challenges Rivers on a personal level, changing his viewpoint towards the conduct of the war and its effects on individual conscience.

At the beginning, the relationship between Sassoon and Rivers is challenging, but later results in a friendship. Before meeting Sassoon, Rivers says that he want this patient to be ill, otherwise he was afraid that the declaration would change the certainty of his beliefs about the conduct of the war. Rivers mentions that the work of this soldier is not illogical and does not suggest that Sassoon may be neurasthenic. On the contrary, the discussions about the freedom of the individual conscience during war and whether such defying men need to be treated touch Rivers deep. He refuses to think about them, because he senses that the further analysis of Sassoon's act may change Rivers' perception of the war. On their first meeting, Rivers behaves like a usual psychatrist, leading people to admit they have said something that they did not actually say. He is surprised that the medical board agreed upon the diagnosis of war neurosis. He believed that Sassoon had "a very powerful anti-war neurosis." He concluded that the patient is not a pacifist and disapproves of the extent of the slaughter and the lack of a clear purpose of the war. The first sign of the forming friendship is Rivers' revelation that he liked Sassoon and, "found him ... much more impressive than I (he) expected." Then, when talking with Graves he says that he could not agree more about the need to change the general opinion about the war through different means, not a boycott of fighting. Rivers tells that writing poems and remembering the horrors of the war helped Sassoon escape a real breakdown. Therefore, Rivers realized that Sassoon, although unconsciously, approves of his methods of treatment of war neuroses. Rivers notices that Sassoon was a great soldier, well distinguished for his courageous deeds. Later, Rivers qualifies Sassoon as unable to be safe. The doctor threatens him that if he refuses to serve, he will be safe until the end of the war. As a result of their relationship, Rivers admits that he wants the war to end, "Sassoon made no secret of his belief that anybody who supported the continuation of the war must be actuate by selfish motives, and yet if Rivers had allowed such motives to dominate, he'd have wanted the war to end tonight."

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear to the reader that Rivers and Sassoon are true friends who influence each other's decisions. Later, when the board arrives and asks questions that put in risk the present safe life of Sassoon, Rivers defends him like a real friend, "I'm not going to give him electric shocks or or subcutaneous injections or ether. I'm simply asking him to defend his position." Rivers thinks that if Sassoon had not come to Craiglockhart, his life would be much easier, as he would not have to think about the cost of the war. Rivers mentions that he has prior to Sassoon's arrival, he has kept the position in the hospital, because he has suppressed his awareness of the matter. However, Sassoon raised the issue of the justification of the war. Rivers realizes that Sassoon