I mean war always has been a part of our life since the first civilizations was established. I’m sure “shellshock” wasn’t only caused by artilery shots.
In: Other
Basically it was a matter of timing, the fact it was so many countries participating, and that there were so many survivors. Many of whom who were suffering from PTSD. Then, add on the new horrors that WW1 brought. Artillery, mustard gas, flame throwers, etc. It made war a bit more incomprehensible for people and that just made it worse.
So, the prevalence of the fighting, the number of people suffering from it, and the scale of the conflict all combined to make the public drastically aware of this being a thing. People’s knowledge of mental health and how Psychology was in its infancy at the time… There was no real idea of what it really was, and even how to treat it.
The idea of seeing something so horrific you were permanently damaged mentally from it could probably be imagined in a vague way by people who had gone through something like that. But most people would never really understand how that could happen. Or the sheer extent of how it would impact people.
So the natural assumption was that it was caused by some kind of concussive injury to the brain from artillery shells going off near people, but not close enough to actually kill them. The term PTSD wasn’t even ratified until 1980 in the third iteration of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders).
Latest Answers