"“Shell Shock” Wasn’t Just a Problem for the..." Topic

… British Army During the First World War.

"Millions of men worldwide (and indeed many women too) suffered psychological damage caused by their experiences in the First World War.

In Great Britain, the official number of those treated for ‘shell shock' was around 80,000. More than 60,000 were still receiving care a decade after the Armistice was signed. And since thousands of others broke down for the first time years after the war ended, the true figure of those afflicted must be considerably higher.

Even within months of the start of the war, the number of fighting men suffering from nervous collapse was becoming a serious problem for the military. Soldiers stricken with the little-understood condition exhibited a wide variety of symptoms consistent with what we would today call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)…"
Full article here.
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Amicalement
Armand

Comedian George Carlin used it as an example when he joked about how the American language has gone soft over time in one of his monologues:

You can't be afraid of words that speak the truth. I don't like words that hide the truth. I don't like words that conceal reality. I don't like euphemisms or euphemistic language. And American english is loaded with euphemisms. Because Americans have a lot of trouble dealing with reality. Americans have trouble facing the truth, so they invent a kind of a soft language to protect themselves from it. And it gets worse with every generation. For some reason it just keeps getting worse.

For some reason, it just keeps getting worse. I'll give you an example of that. There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either (click) snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called "shell shock." Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, "shell shock." Almost sounds like the guns themselves. That was seventy years ago. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called "battle fatigue." Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison Avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called "operational exhaustion." Hey, we're up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. "Operational exhaustion." Sounds like something that might happen to your car. Then of course came the war in Vietnam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called "post-traumatic stress disorder." Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. "Post-traumatic stress disorder." I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it "shell shock," some of those Vietnam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time. I'll betcha.

Very interesting, but please be aware that some of the WWI films showing institutionalized men convulsing, shaking, etc(see Youtube) actually suffered true brain and neurological injuries due to the incessant concussion of hundreds if not thousands of high explosive shells going off around them, day in day out, week after week. As you guys know, WWI had some of the longest, heaviest, non-stop artillery bombardments in the history of warfare. There is a big difference between battle fatigue/PTSD which is a psychological issue and true neurological damage. Both are horrible but there is a difference. Thank you

Glad you enjoyed the article my friend.
Interesting remarks.

Amicalement
Armand