For alcoholism, the emphasis has changed from sin to
sickness;
and while there are still people who attribute moral weakness to the habitual drunkard, the general consensus of the medical profession now is to diagnose
disease.
The war
sickness was a
disease of the white man, who fought in armies far from his home, for men he didn't know,
and there is a myth about the West, that it was founded
and ruled by loners,
while the truth is just the opposite; the loner is a mental weakling,
and was seen as such,
and treated with suspicion.