#shellshock
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by
ral104
moderator, scientist
A lot of psychological problems diagnosed during the war fell into the catch-all term 'shell shock'. There's a great blog post here detailing some of them: http://blog.operationwardiary.org/
Perhaps you can help us create a record of where mention of these conditions is made. Just use the #shellshock hashtag in the diary entry's talk page. Remember to write it all as one word!
Have you encountered other psychological issues which you think it would be interesting to tag?
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HeatherC
moderator
This page http://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD00013w2 may talk about "electric treatment" (at least that's how I interpret the writing - be interested to see what others think) Apparently this was a form of treatment used for shellshock, though I'm surprised to find it in a Field Ambulance. I read the name of the Unit on the page as 4th Field Ambulance by the way not UK Field Ambulance as has been stated.
Thoughts?
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HeatherC
moderator
I keep seeing neurasthenia as a diagnosis. I've looked it up and it apparently literally means "nerve weakness". One definition I found says "a psychological disorder marked especially by easy fatigability and often by lack of motivation, feelings of inadequacy, and psychosomatic symptoms". Currently it isn't in the list of terms we were looking for to hashtag as shellshock (from the linked Blog article above). Can we go back to the writer of that Blog and check if he wants this term included or if it's something totally different?
Of course if anyone has the medical / historical knowledge to know how the term was used in WW1 please say!
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ral104
moderator, scientist
I'll see what I can find out...
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David_Underdown
moderator
Pretty sure that neurasthenia was one of the currently used terms at the time. There was at some stage an order (or at least strong suggestion) that the term shell shock shouldn't be used in diagnoses I think.
Posted
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ral104
moderator, scientist
Edgar Jones, who defined the terms to be included in the tag, says the following:
My recommendation is that 'neurasthenia' probably should be tagged as
shell shock, though its not a perfect solution. What happened is that
the diagnosis neurasthenia pre-dated the FWW and was applied to to
civilians as well as soldiers to describe a form of nervous
exhaustion. In 1915 the term shell shock was recognised as a medical
diagnosis and widely used, particularly in 1916. The army then became
concerned by its widespread use and feared it was being used as an
excuse for invalidity to the UK. Tougher rules were introduced in 1917
and RMOs were supposed to put Not Yet Diagnosed Nervous (NYDN) for
shell shock cases. Shell shock was supposed to be applied only be
specialist doctors. The Ministry of Pensions began to use neurasthenia
for almost all cases of shell shock that were awarded a pension. So in
1917-1918 the two terms neurasthenia and shell shock got mixed up and
blurred.So, yes, we should tag mentions of neurasthenia as #shellshock
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f0rbe5
For recording purposes is shell shock recorded as "Sick" or "Wounded"? There's no physical damage, but in the modern era I would interpret that as a wound, not sick... I've got 70 slight cases arriving at a Field Ambulance.
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HeatherC
moderator
The Field Guide says "Minor wounds were commonplace and may not have been recorded. The casualty return usually included men who were receiving medical treatment and were not on the fighting strength of the unit. Sometimes distinctions are made between men who were wounded but still at their post, men who had been poisoned by gas or who were suffering shell shock symptoms as a result of an explosion eg Wounded (Gas), Wounded (At Duty), Wounded (Shell Shock). Tag them all as Wounded."
So the answer is "wounded".
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