Shell Shock

Shell Shock

Shell shock is a term that originated during World War I to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many soldiers experienced during the war, before PTSD was officially recognized. It is a reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced helplessness, which could manifest as panic, fear, flight, or an inability to reason, sleep, walk, or talk. During the war, the concept of shell shock was poorly defined. Cases of "shell shock" could be interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury. Although the United States' Department of Veterans Affairs still uses the term shell shock to describe certain aspects of PTSD, it is mostly a historical term, and is often considered to be the signature injury of the war. In World War II and beyond, the diagnosis of "shell shock" was replaced by that of combat stress reaction, which is a similar but not identical response to the trauma of warfare and bombardment. Despite medical alerts, long-term trouble was disregarded as a cowardice and weakness of mind by military leadership. In recent decades and following the 2003 Iraq war, shell shock has been linked to biological brain damages, such as concussions and micro-tearing of the brain tissues. There are terms that exist that describe similar characteristics of shell shock, like the thousand-yard stare, which both come from the stresses of war. Their combined meanings are likely as old as war itself.

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