Understanding PTSD and 'Shell Shock'

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/what/ptsd_basics.asp

This more modern article shows us what was thought of PTSD from the perspective of doctors today as well as known causations and risks of PTSD in modern society.

Considering PTSD from a more modern perspective allows us to not only see how others in this field of study view PTSD, but how we can now apply and quantify this information. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA as it is known throughout military branches, is now something we can use to analyze our current understanding of PTSD. The VA, a fairly recent agency established March 15^th of 1989, was constructed for the soul purpose of aiding veterans in their integration back into society. For the purposes of the researching of the knowledge of PTSD however, we can use this information provided to find how severe PTSD or ‘shell shock’ really was in the 40s and 50s. This is of course somewhat required due to the newer theory of shell shock in the 40s and the government and society’s unwillingness to address it until much too late. We can use articles now then to attempt to quantify and relate what happened then to what is known to happen now. An example of this is given in an article titled “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Military Veteran” by doctors Matthew J. Friedman, Paula P. Schnurr, and Annmarie McDonagh-Coyle. In this article, causes for PTSD among military members includes as stated, “A high amount of war-zone exposure” in which is specified that “War-zone exposure refers here not only to actual combat, but also to its results as experienced by individuals who deal with injury and death, such as medical or graves registration personnel.” ¹ This quotation expands quite drastically not only the number of possible, unwritten victims of PTSD, but widens the field of focus when considering those from the World War 2 era. What we know now and what we know then have drastically improved, and though not perfect, there has been some consideration to the veterans now as well as those that came before. The VA although not perfect, is definitive proof of the progress society has made in not only the integration of veterans into society, but the considerations for the causes of PTSD and shell shock among veterans.