In the Civil War it was called “Soldiers Heart”. In WWI it was called “Shell Shock”, or ‘war neurosis’.
By WWII it was called “Battle Fatigue”, the Vietnam War coined “The Post-Vietnam Syndrome”, and the Gulf-War “The (Gulf War) syndrome”.
The solution to these brain injuries has been, and continues to be minimizing the seriousness of the complaints and pushing soldiers back into combat as quickly as possible.
In WWI those soldiers suffering were described as “Weak”, “Cowardly”, “Hysterical”, and “unable to maintain masculinity”.
Some publications of the era show how the media depicted these survivors.
http://www.wfa-usa.org/new/shellshock.htm"Insane ex-soldiers put with criminals" 8 January 1921.
"Reports on War Disabled: Treasury office says 40% of them are Mentally Deranged" 1 January 1921
"Sick and Insane Soldiers Increase" 16 January
"70,000 Insane Soldiers Uncared For" 4 April 1921.
WWI brought new inventions to such things as planes, submarines, poison gases, explosives and tanks that were employed for the first time ever. This advanced technology changed forever, and continues to change the catastrophic destruction, and the lethality of war. Not surprising it was also a watershed period when the effects of "combat stresses" began to be recognized.
The punishment for the exhibition of essentially psychological symptoms was often in the earlier years of World War I, summary and massive. Men whom we would today classify as combat-stress casualties were shot for "cowardice." Ferguson (1999) indicates that a significant proportion of the 346 British soldiers executed were shot for cowardice, many of whom were suffering from shell shock. Babington (1997) illustrates this cogently with four cases of soldiers previously seen as suffering from shell shock who were subsequently executed for cowardice. In Britain, "cowardice" was punishable by death until 1930.
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/marlowe_paper/mr1018_11_ch5.html..........Rinse & Repeat...
●-Michael C.C. Adams, The Best War Ever: America and World War II About 25-30 percent of WWII casualties were psychological cases; under very sever conditions that number could reach as high as 70-80 percent. In Italy, mental problems accounted for 56 percent of total casualties. On Okinawa, where fighting conditions were particularly horrific, 7,613 Americans died, 31,807 sustained physical wounds, and 26, 221 were mental casualties.-Adams, 95
Trying to repress feelings, they drank, gambled suffered paralyzing depression, and became inarticulately violent. A paratrooper’s wife would “sit for hours and just hold him when he shook.”
Afterward, he started beating her and the children: “He became a brute.” And they divorced —-Adams, 150
Haunted
by Mark D. Van Ells
World War II soldiers had mixed views of battle fatigue. Many continued to see it as cowardice or as angling for the infamous Section Eight discharge. General George S. Patton's slapping of battle-fatigued soldiers is legendary. Roth Schleck, a combat officer with the 32nd Division, attributed battle fatigue to poor leadership. While some units suffered high battle fatigue rates, Schleck noted that others were "subjected to about the same thing and they didn't have that at all." Other veterans were more sympathetic. Of the man he saw collapse in combat, Gantter wrote that he had simply "reached the saturation point. He couldn't take it anymore, that's all, and no one blamed him." Manchester remembered a hardened veteran sobbing and unable to fight. "I priggishly disapproved," he wrote. "A Marine is supposed to cry inside; he can be afraid, but he can't bring shame upon himself for showing fear." Yet, he added, "The fact is that I wanted to weep myself."
Despite the host of conflicting opinions about battle fatigue, few people questioned that combat had profound effects on the minds of soldiers. "We were all psychotic, inmates of the greatest madhouse of history," claimed Manchester. Two psychiatrists who worked with veterans after the war noted that "mild traumatic states...are almost universal among combat troops immediately after battle."
Mark D. Van Ells, a history professor at the City University of New York , wrote the book To Hear Only Thunder Again: America's World War II Veterans Come Home. This article originally appeared in the August 2005 issue of America in WWII.
http://www.americainwwii.com/stories/haunted.htm.........Rinse and Repeat..........
The Vietnam War
2,500,000 soldiers served in the war
58,135 soldiers were killed
303,616 wounded
33,000 paralyzed as a result of injuries
111,000 veterans have died from “war-related” problems since returning to the US (at least 60,000 are
suicides)
35,000 US civilians killed in Vietnam (noncombat deaths)
--- Reese Williams, ed. Unwinding the Vietnam War: From War into Peace (Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1987), 7-8.
I've seen bodies ripped to pieces by bullets, blown into millions of scraps by bombs, and pierced by booby traps. I’ve smelled the stench of bodies burned. I’ve heard the air sound like it was boiling from rounds flying back and forth. I’ve lived an insanity others should never live..."
-- Dennis Tenety, Fire in the Hole
Interestingly, the least amount of data found on the various termed mental injuries, was the data on the Vietnam war. Instead of war-related, the Post Vietnam Syndrome seems to have been caused by poor discipline and the lack of public support on their return from war. Not surprising there is still a debate about the numbers of Vietnam Veterans that experience, or are still experiencing results from that particular causation.
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/fe...Battle Continues Over Vietnam PTSD Numbers08.23.07, 12:00 AM ET
http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/health/fe...THURSDAY, Aug. 23 (HealthDay News) --
-In the years following the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the actual number of veterans psychologically scarred by what they had encountered in the war became the subject of heated controversy.
A 1988 study, conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated a relatively low lifetime rate of PTSD among veterans of 14.7 percent.
But a second government study -- the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) -- calculated a much higher lifetime figure of 30.9 percent and a current figure of 15.2 percent. Both studies relied
heavily on veterans' self-reports of PTSD symptoms and exposure to wartime trauma, and both drew heavy
criticism.
.......
Look How Far We've Come...
FIELD MANUAL NO. 22-51
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Washington, DC, 29 September 1994
CHAPTER 5
BATTLE FATIGUE FM 22-51
5-1. Introduction
Battle fatigue is the approved US Army term (AR 40-216) for combat stress symptoms and reactions which
* Feel unpleasant.
* Interfere with mission performance.
* Are best treated with reassurance, rest, replenishment of physical needs, and activities which restore confidence.
a. Battle fatigue can also be present in soldiers who have been physically wounded or who have nonbattle injuries or diseases caused by stressors in the combat area. It may be necessary to treat both the battle fatigue and the other problems.
b. Battle fatigue may coexist with misconduct stress behaviors. However, battle fatigue itself, by definition, does not warrant legal or disciplinary action.
---------------
b. Leader and medical personnel in forward areas should expect as many or more soldiers to present with duty or rest battle fatigue as there will be hold and refer cases. It is essential that the former not
become casualties by unnecessarily evacuating or holding them for treatment.
c. In general, the more intense the combat, especially with indirect fire and mass destruction, the more cases become heavy and need holding or referral, and the harder it is for them to recover quickly and return to duty.
d. Fifty to eighty-five percent of battle fatigue casualties (hold and refer) returned to duty following 1 to 3 days of restoration treatment, provided they are kept in the vicinity of their units (for example, within the division).
NOTE
e.Premature evacuation of battle fatigue soldiers out of the combat zone must be prevented as it often results in permanent psychiatric disability. If the tactical situation permits, the evacuation policy in the corps should be extended from 7 to 14 days for the reconditioning program, as this will substantially improve the returned to duty rate and decrease subsequent chronic disability.
.................
From Where We Started...
Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Anatomy,
and Tom Hatherly Pear BSc.
Lecturer in Experimental Psychology,
Manchester University Medical School
Published Manchester University Press, England
First edition 1917 January 15th, 1916, the British Medical Journal was responsible for the statement "The only hope that
our present knowledge of insanity permits us to entertain of appreciably diminishing the number of 'first attacks' lies in diminishing habitual and long enduring drunkenness and in diminishing the incidence of syphilis."
This statement would have been sufficiently amazing if it had been made three years ago; but when the hospitals of Europe contain thousands of "first attacks" of insanity, which are definitely not due either to alcohol or syphilis, the only conclusion to be drawn is that its author must have been asleep since July, 1914, or have become so obsessed by a fixed idea as to be unable to see the plain lessons of the war. http://www.vlib.us//medical/shshock/index.htmOverview of Combat Stress Control
Field Manual No. 22-51: Leaders' Manual for Combat Stress Control: Booklet 1
Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, DC
1-6. The Potential High-Tech Battlefield
United States Army planners have predicted what future high-tech combat could entail. This was demonstrated in the recent past with the world's confrontation with Iraq over the seizure of Kuwait. Based on the current world situation, such future battles are not unthinkable.
The unprecedented debilitating effects of battlefield in the twenty-first century will demand even more attention to the preparation of soldiers, crews, and leaders for combat hardships. In such battlefields, the soldier will face many challenges.
http://www.ptsdsupport.net/overview_of_Combat_Stress_Control.html.........Not surprising it took so long to contemplate the more far reaching consequences...
http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer...This article originally appeared in the July 2007 volume of the Zero To Three
Journal on Coping With Separation and Loss.
The Young Military Child
Our Modern TelemachusStephen J. Cozza
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Alicia F. Lieberman
University of California, San Francisco
—A combat mindset or what has been referred to as Battlemind can lead tomisdirected irritability or aggression that can impact on small children.Irritability, emotional rage, jumpiness, hypervigilance, or overreactivity can all lead to family conflict and misunderstanding on the part of the young child. Social withdrawal or reduced communication because of anxiety about sharing upsetting war-related experiences may cause further withdrawal from family members and lead to a child’s confusion about the meaning of suchparental nonavailability.
—Postdeployment emotional and behavioral responses can range from more typical short-term distress responses, such as change in sleep, decreased sense of safety, or social isolation, to the development of more serious psychiatric conditions, such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression.
Studies conducted by Hoge and colleagues (Hoge et al., 2004; Hoge, Auchterlonie, & Milliken, 2005) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have demonstrated significant postdeployment distress in populations of combat exposed soldiers and marines returning from Iraq. When screened 12 months after return from combat deployment, nearly 20% of service members endorsed symptoms consistent with a mental disorder, most often PTSD or depression.
—Studies have demonstrated that the children of parents with depression (Beardslee, Versage, & Gladstone, 1998) evidence significant problems in a wide range of functional areas. Children of Vietnam veterans with PTSD are more likely to evidence symptoms similar to those of their combat-exposed fathers (Rosenheck & Nathan, 1985; Rosenheck & Thompson, 1986). Such findings suggest the importance of family intervention when parental psychiatric illness results from combat exposure. Military children, including toddlers and preschoolers, can be distressed and confused about perceived changes in combat veteran parents.Information should be made available at developmentally appropriate levels so that children can better understand the changes in their parents.
..........Is it any wonder? After a century of war...
• In 2000, 1.5 million U.S. children had an incarcerated parent. Between 1990-2001, the number of women in prison increased by 106%.
• In 1995, 12% of children in foster care had not received routine health care. 90% had not received services to address developmental delays.
• Between 1992-2002, the number of infants and toddlers entering foster care increased by 110%.
• In 1993, more than 60% of the homeless population in NYC municipal shelters were former foster youth.
• According to a 1999 report, less than 50% of foster youth had graduated from high school, compared to 85% of the general population.
• In 2000, of 732 mid-western foster care youths, nearly 52% had lived in three or more foster homes and had moved schools.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are more than half a million children and youth in the U.S. foster care system, a 90% increase since 1987.Three of 10 of the nation’s homeless are former foster children.
A recent study has found that 12-18 months after leaving foster care:
27% of the males and 10% of the females had been incarcerated
33% were receiving public assistance
37% had not finished high school
50% were unemployed
Children in foster care are three to six times more likely than children not in care to have emotional, behavioral and developmental problems
A study by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenille Justice found 70% of these youth meet the criteria for at least one mental health disorder. What's worse is that 36% of the parents of these youth intentionally involved the juvenille justice system to access mental health services...some 12,700 children were places in either child welfare, or the juvenilled justice systems to access mental health systems (U.S. GAO 2003) Of course, the U.S. DOJ in recent investigations into the conditions in these juvenille detention and correctional facilities, found inadequate access to treatment, inappropriate use of medications, and neglect of suicide attempts nationwide (U.S.DOJ 2005).
---80 percent of prison inmates have been through the foster care system.
* 872,000 children and youth were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect in the United States in 2004.
Children are 11 times more likely to be abused in State care than they are in their own homes.
http://fostersurvivor.netfirms.com/statist...
Nationwide, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers are increasingly focusing on a growing tragedy large numbers of youth with mental health problems becoming involved in the juvenile justice system. A recent study by the National Center for Mental Health and Juvenile Justicefound approximately 70% of the youth in residential juvenile justice settings meet criteria for at least one mental health disorder(Shufelt &Cocozza, 2006).
--According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in
adult jails has increased 208%. On any given day, more than 7,000 young people are held in adult jails.
-- Increasing numbers of young people have been placed in adult jails where they are at risk of assault, abuse, and death. Currently, 40 states permit or require that youth charged as adults be placed pre-trial in an adult jail, and in some states they may be required to serve their entire sentence in an adult jail.
According to the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, since 1990 the incarceration of youth in adult jails has increased 208%.
...
I call it Politics
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