If you watch videos online of shell shock theres all kinds of weird symptoms. Dancing, jumping up and down, seizure like convulsions. But I’ve never seen a modern example of this. From my understanding, modern PTSD is the same thing as shell shock or in WW2 “combat fatigue”. Why is that?
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Whoops found my answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/89ogs2/shell_shock_vs_ptsd/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app
Shell shock is not quite the same as PTSD; it is a separate disease. Shell shock is a neurological affliction cause by constant exposure to artillery fire. Shell shock physically damages the body. This is you see people shake and convulse like crazy, their brain and nerves are damaged. In fact, once removed from the front lines, [many victims of shell shock got better with treatment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWHbF5jGJY0); their bodies repaired themselves.
PTSD is a psychological illness. In this case, a person’s body is not physically damaged to the same extent as a person with shell shock.
There are degrees of trauma with PTSD. The videos of WW1 victims that I think you’re referring to involve people who have endured the extremes of a global war. This exists today, but thankfully on a smaller scale. PTSD can also occur from a singular isolated event such as a car accident.
Many soldiers in WW1 would endure day after day up to months of death, violence, starvation, explosions, more death, no sleep, more violence, more death, more explosions…
Shell shock and PTSD are basically the same thing, it describes the same phenomenon.
I remember a comedian (edit: its George Carlin) doing a joke about shell shock and PTSD. He was mocking how people likes to have long words instead of simple words that basically means the same thing.
Shell shock – WW1
Battle fatigue – WW2
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – After WW2.
All means the same thing.
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