In Regeneration, by Pat Barker, you can discover how the protagonist and psychiatrist of the novel, Rivers, uses the "talking cure" method to treat shell-shocked soldiers only to be able to return at the front. However, Rivers' awareness of the treatment impacts him through the intimate relationship Rivers has with his typical patient, Sassoon. Throughout the novel, awareness of the treatment influences Rivers' belief about the war where the perspective changes, it is explained by Sassoon's reasons in opposing fighting in the war of injustice. Early in the novel, when Rivers reads the Declaration of Sassoon, he says to his colleague Bryce, "...what will our dear Director of Medical Services say, when he finds out that we are harboring 'conchies' as well as cowards, hucksters , scrimshankers and degenerates?.." (4) . Rivers exemplifies Sassoon as a coward in the quote because Rivers doubts that Sassoon is in shock and that Sassoon is just trying to escape from fighting at the front. However, when Rivers realizes that Sassoon is not a "coward", but instead nearly gave up his life to return the dead and wounded to the trenches, Rivers asks Sassoon if opposing was a religious action. into the fight by asking, “Would you describe yourself as a pacifist?” (13). Sassoon answers the question by saying that he does not oppose the war with a religious perspective but rather because of the brutality that the war is causing on soldiers and members of the home front and that he no longer hates the Germans, rather, a feeling of hatred for those who at home they allow the war to continue. When Sassoon asks Rivers if he thinks he is crazy, after answering no, he says... halfway through the paper... that he would change people, if he himself had been changed, and by someone who was clearly unaware that he had done so." (249). This phrase makes it clear that Sassoon's heroic mind influenced Rivers who, himself, was changed by someone who needed to change, Sassoon. Overall, the awareness of the "talking cure" had a critical turning point in Rivers's belief in war that explained by Sassoon's moral reasons in opposing the fight. Rivers realized that it was not up to him whether or not to stop the war, but what matters is that a person must be willing to do something rather than being forced. In Sassoon's case, even though he disguised the fact that he fought for a war that wasn't justified, he still wanted to go back so he could be with his fellow soldiers, even if it meant death. Works Cited Barker, Pat, Regeneration. . New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Print.