Shell Shock 

By Tiffany Littler

Cowards. Nonsense.

This is what some soldiers were referred to as during World War I, when deep down they were suffering in their own minds.

The term “Shell Shock” was created during the war. According to Sparticus Educational, the British Army identified 80,000 men suffering from Shell Shock between 1914-1918. Some soldiers broke down under pressure and refused to obey orders or left. Those soldiers were punished and some were even shot.

British doctors in military hospitals in 1914 started noticing symptoms of Shell Shock: tiredness, irritability, giddiness, lack of concentration, headaches and mental breakdowns. Spartacus Educational said doctors argued the symptoms were caused by the enemy’s heavy artillery. The cure for Shell Shock was to take a rest from fighting. Senior officers got to go home, but regular soldiers were looked at as cowards.

There was even a movie called Shell Shock, which came out in 1964. It was set in Italy during World War II. In the movie, a sergeant thinks one of his men is faking battle fatigue and sets out to expose him, but little does he know the soldier is suffering from Shell Shock.

Charles S. Myers, a British psychologist, was appointed by the British Army to offer his opinions on the condition and gather data for a policy. The American Psychological Association said Myers called the cases of Shell Shock “psychological casualties.” Along with the symptoms listed above, Myers noticed other symptoms such as loss of hearing, sight and sensation, and tremors. Despite his research and findings, the soldiers suffering those symptoms were still looked at as cowards. Myers created a system for doctors to refer severe cases of shell shock to specialist treatment centers in the U.K.

According to Sparticus Educational, there were many different treatments of Shell Shock. Disciplinary treatment was the most common, which included shaming, physical re-education and the infliction off pain. The most common treatment to cause pain was electric shock treatment.

Today, the term Shell Shock is hardy used. Instead it’s PTSD. Stephen Joseph of Psychology Today said the two conditions are the same, but also different. Shell Shock was specific to the experiences of combat, while PTSD is more wide ranging.