The Portrayal of Mental Health in the Television Show M*A*S*H
List of M*A*S*H Episodes that Involve Mental Health
This list is most likely incomplete since M*A*S*H is a series that was heavily involved in portraying the affects of war on individuals. It can be argued that nearly every episode involves mental health in some form, especially the emergence of the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder in the 1980s. This list is meant to merely provide a brief overview of some of the more obvious plotlines involving mental health, which is often characterized by the appearance of a psychiatrist in the camp. Mental health appears to be a common theme throughout the series, with at least one episode per season dedicated to its portrayal.
| M*A*S*H Season 1, Episode 7 (1972) “Bananas, Crackers and Nuts” |
| “Colonel Blake will not let Hawkeye leave for R&R, so he begins faking insanity. A psychiatrist, Captain Sherman, is called in to examine him by a suspicious Margaret. Sherman declares Hawkeye insane and orders him to be institutionalized. To avoid this fate, Hawkeye, Trapper, and Radar concoct a scheme that tricks Sherman into sexually assaulting Margaret and fleeing in shame.”((“Bananas, Crackers and Nuts” (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Bananas,_Crackers_and_Nuts_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 2, Episode 1 (1973) “Divided We Stand” |
| “A psychiatrist is sent to observe the 4077th and recommend if the unit, which appears to be cracking under the strain of serving so near the front, should be broken up.”((“Divided We Stand (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Divided_We_Stand_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 2, Episode 3 (1973) “Radar’s Report” |
| “Klinger’s girl back home wants to marry him, Hawkeye flirts with a nurse, and all the goings on are reported to the Army in Radar’s weekly report.”((“Radar’s Report (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Radar%27s_Report_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 3, Episode 1 (1974) “The General Flipped at Dawn” |
| “An inspection by the strict Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele puts the 4077th on edge. The final straw comes when he orders the unit to move the camp closer to the front, to be more economical and show that a MASH unit should be mobile.”((“The General Flipped at Dawn (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/The_General_Flipped_at_Dawn_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 4, Episode 10 (1975) “Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?” |
| “The latest group of casualties includes an air force bombardier who claims he’s Jesus Christ. Frank and Margaret think he’s faking battle fatigue in order to get a discharge, and they bring in Colonel Flagg to help expose him.”((“Quo Valdis, Captain Chandler (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Quo_Vadis,_Captain_Chandler_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 5, Episode 8 (1976) “Dear Sigmund” |
| “Psychiatrist Sidney Freedman makes a return visit to the 4077th and composes a letter to Sigmund Freud during a visit to the camp, while the rest of the camp endures the hijinks of a mystery prankster, which turns out to be Captain B.J. Hunnicutt.”((“Dear Sigmund (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Dear_Sigmund_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 5, Episode 14 (1976) “Hawk’s Nightmare” |
| “Hawkeye begins to think he is losing his “war against the war” when he starts sleepwalking and having nightmares about two of his childhood friends.”((“Hawk’s Nightmare (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Hawk’s_Nightmare_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 6, Episode 5 (1977) “War of Nerves” |
| “Sidney arrives at the 4077th as a casualty. But his timing turns out to be auspicious as most of the camp is on the verge of going crazy.”((“War of Nerves (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/War_of_Nerves_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 6, Episode 25 “Major Topper” |
| “Potter and the surgeons have to come up with an alternative remedy for the patients when their last case of morphine turns out to be possibly contaminated. Meanwhile, Klinger is faced with convincing Potter that a new guard in camp is actually crazier than Klinger only pretends to be.”((“Major Topper (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Major_Topper_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 7, Episode 6 (1978) “The Billfold Syndrome” |
| “Charles becomes so irate when he is turned down for a future medical position at home that he refuses to talk to anyone in the unit until Hawkeye and B.J. send him a false telegram from home. Meanwhile, a young medic, Jerry Neilsen, can’t remember his own identity, so Sidney Freedman is called for help.”((“The Billfold Syndrome (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/The_Billfold_Syndrome_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 7, Episode 21 (1979) “C*A*V*E” |
| “An emergency bug-out to a nearby cave becomes complicated when Hawkeye reveals that he suffers from claustrophobia.”((“C*A*V*E (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/C*A*V*E_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 8, Episode 21 (1980) “Goodbye, Cruel World” |
| “Hawkeye and Dr. Sidney Freedman realize that a highly decorated Chinese-American war hero is only brave because he is trying to die in battle, and try to deal with his suicidal bravery. Meanwhile, Klinger decorates his quarters with some tchotchkes from home, but the resulting ridicule drives him to forge Colonel Potter’s signature on his own discharge papers and attempt to desert.”((“Goodbye, Cruel World (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Goodbye,_Cruel_World_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 9, Episode 17 (1981) “Bless You, Hawkeye” |
| “When Hawkeye starts sneezing uncontrollably, Colonel Potter eventually suspects it’s psychological in nature and calls in Dr. Freedman.”((“Bless You, Hawkeye (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Bless_You,_Hawkeye_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 10, Episode 16 (1982) “Pressure Points” |
| “Col. Potter fears he’s losing his touch badly enough to summon Dr. Sidney Freeman.”((“Pressure Points (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Pressure_Points_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Season 11, Episode 2 “Trick Or Treatment” |
| “The 4077th’s preparations for a big Halloween party turn into an even bigger nightmare when they are deluged with casualties, one in particular whom everyone else thinks is dead.”((“Trick or Treatment (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Trick_or_Treatment_(TV_series_episode).)) |
| M*A*S*H Series Finale “Goodbye, Farewell, Amen” |
| “With the war finally ending, nobody is left unaffected by their experiences in Korea, particularly Hawkeye.”((“Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (TV Series Episode),” Monster M*A*S*H, accessed November 8, 2021, https://mash.fandom.com/wiki/Goodbye,_Farewell,_and_Amen_(TV_series_episode).)) |
