The Forgotten Female Shell-Shock Victims of World War I

SSG Robert Mark Odom good read and share of the most informative:

During World War I, the relatively new field of psychoanalysis was full of possibility and, unfortunately, thousands of new patients. The war’s destruction was not limited to the physical; the psychological devastation was immense, and soldiers returned home from the front every day exhibiting a range of new symptoms, including "hysterical paralysis," deafness, mutism, arthritis, facial spasms, “fear, disgust, fatigue,” “delirium,” “suicidal thoughts,” “stammer,” and more. Though we now recognize many of these as symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, doctors at the time struggled to find ways to categorize the rapid and widespread breakdown of the British mind. The solution for soldiers was the invention of a new condition: shell shock. The diagnosis and treatment of similar traumas in women, however, has been largely unexamined by historians.

Maj Marty Hogan SGT (Join to see) SPC Margaret Higgins SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth CW5 Jack CardwellCOL Mikel J. Burroughs CPL Dave Hoover Lt Col Charlie Brown Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen SCPO Morris Ramsey TSgt Joe C. PVT Mark Zehner Capt Dwayne Conyers Sgt (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Michael Noll PO1 Tony Holland PO3 Craig Phillips Maj Kim Patterson

The difference is that civilians were not officially on the front lines and didn't have an enemy to fire at... so truthfully in some ways that was worse; you were even more powerless.

Interesting article. I think one of my uncles who survived WWII suffered from PTSD.