Understanding Battle Fatigue
Shell Shock Is Recognized as a Mental Illness Not Character Flaw
Feb 24, 2009
It’s impossible to imagine what being in combat is like unless you’ve personally experienced it. Those who have fought on a battlefield often describe it as a combination of extreme excitement and gut-wrenching terror. It’s also a huge assault to the emotions that can leave permanent mental health damage.
Today, the condition is called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In the past, it has been known as battle fatigue, shell shock, and, during the American Civil War in the 1860s, it was called soldier’s heart. In World War II, soldiers were said to be suffering from gross stress reaction; with Vietnam veterans it was called post-Vietnam syndrome.
PTSD Symptons
It shows up as memory problems, altered mood, trouble concentrating, disturbed sleeping patterns, nightmares, flashbacks, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headaches, skin conditions, irritability, outbursts of anger, and episodes of anxiety and panic.
Sufferers from PTSD can become withdrawn and depressed, while others may grow to be aggressive. They experience emotional deadness, and distance themselves from other people. Many self-medicate with drugs and alcohol to calm their mental demons. With PTSD it’s very difficult to lead a normal life.
The condition has been increasingly accepted over the years and treatments have improved.
Treatment Ranges from Execution to Counselling
During World War I, the standard therapy for shell shock among ordinary soldiers was execution. Those who could not take the horrors of the trenches anymore got no help from medical officers. The only diagnosis allowed was “cowardice in the face of the enemy” and the treatment was a firing squad. This was mostly to put some backbone into the other troops.
According to Shot at Dawn, a campaign to have executed soldiers pardoned “officers were prescribed rest and encouragement, usually accompanied by withdrawal from the war zone for a longer period of rest and rehabilitation.”
By World War II, psychiatrists were attached to many military units at the division level. Soldiers who were traumatized by witnessing extreme violence were pulled out of the front lines for treatment. This involved supportive counselling with the aim of getting them back to their fighting comrades within three days to a week; unless you were one of General George Patton’s soldiers.
Known to his troops as Old Blood and Guts (“His guts our blood”) Patton was a no-nonsense military man of undoubted personal courage. In August 1943, he came across a weeping soldier, Charles H. Kuhl, in a military hospital and he asked what the matter was. Kuhl said his nerves were shot - he couldn’t take the shelling any more. Patton flew into a profanity-filled rage, slapped the soldier, and called him a coward.
Therapy for Shell Shock
The military no-longer uses this tough approach. PTSD is recognized as a profound psychological disorder. Talk therapy is used in treatment today by getting the patient to discuss the issue directly. Sufferers are taught about the nature of the condition; that it is caused by extreme stress and is not a sign of personal weakness.
Patients learn how to manage their anger and anxiety, and improve their communication skills. Also, they are taught relaxation techniques that help them overcome emotional and physical symptoms.
Pharmaceuticals may also be part of the therapy, particularly anti-depressants such as Zoloft and Paxil.
According to Canada’s Department of National Defence a survey in 2002 “found that, in the year prior to the study, 2.8% of the Regular Force and 1.2% of the Reserve Force reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD. Over the course of their lives 7.2% of the Regular Force and 4.7% of the Reserve Force would have met the diagnostic criteria.” The mission in Afghanistan is driving up the numbers of military personnel suffering from the condition.
