Shell shock

In World War I, many soldiers had psychological problems. These kinds of problems are known as post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) today. The term post-traumatic stress disorder is relatively new. At the time, people such as Charles Samuel Myers called this condition **shell shock**.   Shell shock is a reaction to bombardment and fighting. Soldiers who were affected often felt helpless. Very often they panicked, were scared, and tried to flee. They were also unable to reason, sleep, walk or talk.

During the War, people did not agree on what exactly shell shock was. Some people interpreted it as  a physical or psychological injury, others said it was a lack of morale. In 2021, the Department of Veterans Affairs still used the term _shell shock_ to describe certain parts of PTSD. In most cases, the term is no longer used, except for very specific injuries which occurred during the war.

From  World War II onwards,  people were no longer diagnosed  with _shell shock_: The new term used was combat stress reaction:  this is a similar but not identical response to the trauma of warfare and bombardment.

## Modern cases of shell shock

As outlined, the term shell shocked is used in the context of World War I, to describe early cases of what is called PTSD today. As it is a reaction to the detonation of high-impact explosives, it also has modern uses.

When they were in  Iraq and Afghanistan, approximately 380,000 U.S. troops, about 19% of those deployed, were estimated to have sustained brain injuries from explosive weapons and devices. This prompted the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to open up a $10 million study of the blast effects on the human brain. The study revealed that, while the brain remains initially intact immediately after low level blast effects, the chronic inflammation afterwards is what ultimately leads to many cases of shell shock and PTSD.

## Related pages

- Combat stress reaction

## Sources

- Coulthart, Ross. _The Lost Diggers_, Sydney: HarperCollins Publishers, 2012. ISBN 9780732294618
- Jones, E, Fear, N and Wessely, S. "Shell Shock and Mild Traumatic Brain Injury:  A Historical Review". _Am J Psychiatry_ 2007; 164:1641–1645
- Hochschild, Adam. _To End all Wars - a story of loyalty and rebellion, 1914-1918_ Mariner Books, Houghton, Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, New York, 2011. ISBN 978-0-547-75031-6
- Leese, Peter. _Shell Shock. Traumatic Neurosis and the British Soldiers of the First World War_, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. ISBN 978-1-137-45337-2.
- Mcleod, A.D. "Shell shock, Gordon Holmes and the Great War" _J R Soc Med_. 2004 February; 97(2): 86–89.
- Myers, C.S.  "A contribution to the study of shell shock". _Lancet_, 1', 1915, pp. 316–320
- Shephard, Ben. _A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists, 1914-1994_. London, Jonathan Cape, 2000.
- Wessely, S. _The Life and Death of Private Harry Farr_ _Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine_, Vol 99, September 2006

## Other websites

- Shell Shock during World War I, by Professor Joanna Bourke - BBC
- An Address on the Repression of War Experience, by W.H. Rivers, 4 December 1917

## Infobox (medical condition (new))

- **synonyms**: Bullet wind, Da Costa's syndrome, soldier's heart, Combat stress reaction, battle fatigue, operational exhaustion
- **image**: Shellshock2.jpg
- **field**: Psychiatry
- **caption**: Australian station, near Ypres, in 1917. The soldier on the left has a dazed expression and a steady stare which are two common signs of shell-shock
- **name**: Shell shock