The focus shifted from the ‘weak or inadequate’ soldier to the traumatic situation.The recovery project that followed the end of the war in 1945 transformed the nation into one that provided free healthcare for all, better education and massive housing regeneration. The idea that anyone could succumb to stress reduced the stigma surrounding battle fatigue, and helped traumatised soldiers to be accepted when they returned home. The slogan 'every man has his breaking point' was used to warn people about the danger of stress. Military psychiatrists were more sympathetic towards troops in the Second World War than the First World War. Treatment was not very effective, and 40% of medical discharges from the military during the war were for psychiatric reasons. Men and women diagnosed with battle fatigue were removed from the front line for rest and recovery. The most common symptoms were fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's surroundings and the inability to prioritize.īattle fatigue was usually a short-term condition but could develop into something more serious. Soldiers were suspected of feigning symptoms and accused of mallingering to avoid fighting.īattle fatigue or combat stress reaction (CSR) was a term used in the Second World War to describe a range of behaviours resulting from the stress of battle. Shell shock was poorly understood, medically and psychologically, and the official response was often unsympathetic. The soldier was blamed, not the situation. Other cases of debilitating nervous symptoms were regarded as a consequence of inherited weakness or degeneration. The walking wounded and officers tended to be diagnosed with neurasthenia or nervous breakdown. The specific diagnosis often depended on who you were. When soldiers who had never been exposed to shelling began to develop the symptoms of shell shock, the phenomenon was re-characterised as a range of mental rather than physical conditions and collectively called war neuroses. During the First World War, 309 British soldiers were executed, many of whom are now believed to have had mental health conditions at the time. Some refused to fight and were mistakenly accused of cowardice. The young men who signed up to fight in 1914 had little preparation or support for dealing with the stress and trauma of modern warfare. Shell shock could also manifest as a helplessness, panic, fear, flight or an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk. The range of symptoms ascribed to shell shock included tinnitus, amnesia, headaches, dizziness, tremors and hypersensitivity to noise. Many soldiers who survived an explosion had no visible injuries but exhibited symptoms that could be attributed to spinal or nerve damage. At first, doctors thought that it was a physical illness resulting from the effects of sustained shelling. The term 'shell shock' was coined in the First World War. Specialist rehabilitation centres such as Queen Mary's Hospital in Roehampton were set up to fit veterans with prosthetic limbs and help them with physical rehabilitation and social support. Although rates of amputation declined with improved surgical techniques and the introduction of antisepsis in the 19th century, the sheer scale of industrial warfare in the First World War (1914–18) resulted in large numbers of amputees. The loss of a limb was one of the earliest and most visible disabilities for war veterans. But many war veterans were left to cope with long-term physical and mental medical conditions. As military medicine improved, more and more soldiers survived. In the past, most soldiers with serious wounds would have died, if not from their wounds then from infections. The wartime experience of surgeons who dealt with numerous limb injuries contributed to the grown of orthopaedic surgery (the branch of surgery concerned with the musculoskeletal system) in the first decades of the 20th century.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |