Shell Shock Research Paper

She put her crew to work after they arrived to clean the facilities, get the needed medical supplies for the soldiers, and created the “invalid’s kitchen” to help serve the wounded soldiers appetizing food. A person’s mind was considered nothing beyond the brain. Era II began to evolve during the time after World War II. It was during this time that physicians first began to establish the link between disease and a person’s psyche. This was the first time that there was scientific evidence that psychological stress could contribute to many illnesses such as hypertension, ulcers, and heart attacks. During the time after WWII, the scientific community first began to study the psychological effects that the war had on returning soldiers. Despite the fact that over a million soldiers were screened out due to psychological issues, there continued to be a staggering number of psychiatric casualties. Because of this, psychiatrists were confronted with the realization that psychological weakness had little to do with subsequent distress after combat. Because of this, the term combat neurosis was changed to battle fatigue or combat exhaustion ("History of PTSD ", n.d.). Era III goes a step beyond and proposes that our mind cannot only affect our well-being, but can affect the well-being of another person, even from a distance. In short, Era II shows the importance of an individual’s mind on their own body, Era III shows the importance of an

World War II is still seen today as one of the most lethal wars in history. As technology advanced, more destructive weapons were created. In the hands of the wrong people and those forced to use them, these weapons paved the way for physical and psychological destruction. Furthermore, the mentality of individuals during this time enabled more marring upon themselves and upon other individuals. Even though what we now refer to as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, existed before World War II, this time period brought about a higher prevalence of PTSD, as well as began to change the way this disorder was perceived by people.

The physical traumas and horrific injuries suffered are widely known. However the mental traumas are probably less known and not fully understand. It is

In the first two weeks of a battle, the British with other allies managed to shoot 4,283,550 shells at the German defenses and 800,000 of them got shell shock (Simkin). The trenches never protected soldiers from shell shock. Soldiers who exposed themselves to continuous amount of shellfire produced a number of symptoms. These symptoms included tiredness, irritability, and lack of concentration, headaches, and

An outcome of World War I was a new medical disorder classified as Shell Shock. Shell Shock is a medical disorder developed to describe the symptoms that soldiers developed without a probable or obvious lesion as the cause after serving time on the war front. Shell Shock is one of the most prominent injuries of World War I; the symptoms varied among each soldier, treatments were still being developed, and doctors were still trying to understand the severity of the disorder. The symptoms soldiers described are due to the stress they encountered while they served on the front line. Shell Shock is a condition that soldiers have begun to develop after serving in the war.

The tactics used in World War I were radically different than that of previous wars. The majority of the war was fought in the trenches, and the war itself seemed to have no end. Due to this, the psychological impact of the war was unlike anything that had been seen before. During the early days of the war, the soldiers, on both sides, seemed to lack the dedication that would have been necessary to exterminate their enemy. However, as the war progressed, the desire to avenge their fallen comrades overcame their ethics and they began to kill their enemy indiscriminately. Surviving soldiers experienced a phenomenon that was, at that time, referred to as shell shock. Today we refer to this phenomenon as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. At this time, this psychological condition was misunderstood and the doctors lacked the training necessary to effectively treat this condition.

An American machine gunner, Charles Yale Harrison, says in his novel, Generals Die in Bed: “[War] take[s] everything from us: our lives, our blood, our hearts; even the few lousy hours of rest, they take those, too. Our job is to give, and theirs is to take,” (Harrison, 26). In this example, Harrison explains how war is the most selfish and strongest of all evils; war continues to take everything someone has until they have nothing left to take. The war also created long-term effects for soldiers; one being shell-shock. This term is used to describe the damage of constant loud shelling during war which greatly affected those who were not exposed to shelling frequently (Unnamed). Another term that is still used today is PTSD, (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”), which is used to describe the effect war had on the soldiers afterward (Unnamed). World War I brought major psychological disorders upon the soldiers during and after the war had ended leading to great damage for the rest of the victim’s

Likenesses that identify with those of this disease can be found all through the story "The Things They Carried." Men and women of prior wars moreover mirrored the shared characteristics related to PTSD. In days of old, it was named "Shell Shock" and "Battle Fatigue." Because of studies directed by medical research organizations, e.g., The National Institute of Health (NIMH) we know and

It was not until the 1980’s that the diagnosis of PTSD as we know it today came to be. However, throughout history people have recognized that exposure to combat situations can have profound negative impact on the mind s and bodies of individuals in these situations. But there are other catastrophic events that can have such profound impact on people resulting in PTSD…

Veterans emotional numbness is the constant exposure to the war trauma and the panics of

Mental problems are burdensome for the soldiers, since these burdens cannot be extinguished. When soldiers are at war they are surrounded by responsibility, death and destruction. Adding to all this

​War takes a toll on those who fight, or are affected by it, this is undeniable. Over the course of the 20th Century, within the U.S. Military and Psychiatric Community the way that this effect is identified and treated has changed many times based on the conflict and the mindset of the American public. The purpose of this report is to discuss the history of the mental effect of the trauma created by US involvement in wars within the 20th Century and the steps that were taken in those eras to predict, prepare and treat for those effects.

‘No doubt they’ll soon get well; the shock and the strain / have caused their stammering, disconnected talk,’ writes Siegfried Sassoon in the poem Survivors (1917). Sassoon’s irony in these lines condense a prevalent view of non-combatants during the First World War that the soldiers would recover from their physical injuries and mental illness after the phase of shock had concluded. In the short story Speed the Plough (1923), Mary Butts articulates scepticism towards the idea that Shell Shock will simply pass. Instead of employing the habitual indicators of war, the story showcases Butts’s fixation in avoiding them. Modernist writers, such as Butts, were interested in innovation and experimentation with language to create new forms of expression. The following analysis will explore how the modernist aesthetics shape this passage in order to express the experience of war but avoid recurring to the same language that explicitly evokes it.

While PTSD was not yet defined it was clear that these symptoms were caused because of the disturbing things that had been seen. With no treatments available and a stigma that the effected persons were cowards or scared soldiers were often sent home with no supervision. During World War I physicians began calling it “shell shock” or “combat fatigue”, they believed that concussions caused by the impact of shells disrupting the brain caused the symptoms. Treatments included hospitalization and electric shock therapy. By World War II medical personnel noticed that soldiers that were engaged in longer more intense fighting had much higher levels or psychiatric disturbances and started using the term battle fatigue or combat exhaustion. Soldiers were being labeled as fearful and lacking in discipline and PTSD was still not fully recognized as a disorder, at this time treatment included barbiturates.

Also, in total wars, people tend to not differentiate between soldiers and civilians. Most of the time in World War II, sadly, no one did. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are examples of a belligerent attacking a group without prejudice as to whether or not they are soldiers or, a strategic bombing. Some other examples would be the firebombing of Dresden, the firebombing of Tokyo, and the Battle of Berlin. Looking at the numbers, one cannot even imagine the horrors that each of the affected went through. One victim in particular, Toshiko Tanaka, was only in elementary school when the bomb exploded immediately above her. She was blinded by the flash and received severe burns on her right arm, head, and the left side of her neck. After returning to where her house once stood, she fell into a coma for a week; because all the doctors and hospitals were gone, her mother believed she would die. Luckily, she lived, although she started to suffer from several disorders in her teenage years including mouth ulcers, sore throat, herpes labialis, and sudden fainting. In an interview, she tells of how people who seemed to be fine would suddenly develop purple spots on their skin, have their hair fall out, and bleed from their gums. She also says, “Have you peeled tomatoes in hot water when you make salad? The same thing happens to the human body. Our skin peels by heat. Whenever I see tomatoes, the nightmare comes back to my mind.” All of these tragedies