Shell Shock

Causes, Types & Treatments

Question

1. What are some things that you are afraid of?

Write on the piece of paper all the things that you are afraid of, or things that you know people are afraid of.

What is Shell Shock?

• Coined by a medical officer named Charles Myer, "shell shock" became the new term for war neuroses during and after WWI.

Symptoms of Shell Shock

• Mutism• Shakes, etc. • Doing anything possible to escape – Self

Mutilation• “Intense headache, nervousness, tremors,

motor disorders, disorders of gait, disorders of hearing and of speech….”

Causes of Shell Shock• The waiting – soldiers spent days waiting

in the trenches to fight (stalemate)

• The noise – the artillery barrage and almost constant bombs and noise

• The stress – the overall stress of waiting to die and watching people you know be killed

Views of Shell Shock

• Seen as a cowardly hysteria that allowed soldiers a way off the battlefield

• Shell-shock became the disease of unmanliness and cowards.

“Servicemen had to be prepared to give not only their lives or limbs for the nation, but their nerves as well”

Treatments for Shell Shock 1914-1918

• Shock therapy - Lewis Yealland • More traditional therapy now – discussions and

talking – hypnotherapy – Rivers at Craiglockheart, Scotland.

Pensions - WWI

• Men with SS were eligible for a pension – the issue was to figure out who really had it and who didn’t

Shell Shock in other wars

• WWII – LMF it is called Lack of Moral Fiber

• Vietnam to modern day - Post-traumatic stress disorder

• Each government treats these soldiers differently depending on the culture

Today’s Armed Forces

• The Canadian Armed Forces – 2006, was beginning to implement health assessments of their military personnel every two years

• Jason McLeod, a Canadian reserve soldier who has gone through the basic training for the Canadian military, states that there is absolutely no mention within the training process of possible neurological issues associated with fighting in the Canadian Armed Forces.

• “There were aptitude tests performed prior to being enlisted, what was determined from these exactly I do not know.”

• He also affirmed that men and women in basic training are taught to be invincible and therefore there is little room for mental issues.

Reflection

1. How do you feel that you would handle the war if you went to fight?

2. How do you handle a fear that you have?

3. Have you ever had to do something that they did not wish to? How did you handle it?