Imagine waking up in the dead of night and returning to your worst nightmare. You lay there, taking in the shock of returning to the scene of your trauma. You remember every single detail of where it happened. Yet, when you snapped out of those memories, you discovered it was all a dream. It is all triggered by a sensation in your environment, whether it be fireworks or curtains touching your skin. This event is the result of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, otherwise known simply as PTSD.

PTSD is a mental disability that causes people to feel hostile and isolated due to the constant memories of their trauma haunting them. Events like car crashes, abuse, and sexual assault are often the most common causes that lead to PTSD. Today, there is some level of understanding in the public and scientific field; however, the same couldn’t be said during its infancy centuries ago.

The earliest documentation of symptoms of PTSD was the account given by Herodotus about Epizelus’s sudden blindness after seeing his comrades die during the Battle of Marathon in 440 BC. Many similar cases were shared globally, but it wasn’t scientifically researched until the world was at war in the First World War. Within the first six months of the war, many hospital staff witnessed their fellow man distressed by the heavy fighting they experienced. By 1915, this phenomenon would be labeled as “shell shock” by the press.

Soldiers afflicted with shell shock were branded as cowards, lacking patriotism for their nation. Commanders, echoing society’s sentiments, sometimes resorted to ordering their soldiers to shoot them. Those who were fortunate enough to be hospitalized for their mental hardships were subjected to faradization, a form of electrotherapy. Long after the war, many veterans of the war felt isolated by society as they ignored their tales of their troubling experiences. It’s no wonder why this generation will be forever known as The Lost Generation.

Fortunately, in today’s world, people who have PTSD are viewed in a much better light and better ways of treatment. Meanwhile, all who held onto their suffrage throughout World War 1 have since passed away. What remains is their accounts of memories that they’ll never forget. It is essential to ensure that no one with PTSD doesn’t go through the same hardships with interacting with the public or in the medical field again.

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Works Cited

Antoine, Marc -. “From shell shock and war neurosis to posttraumatic stress disorder: a history of psychotraumatology.” NCBI, March 2000, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181586/. Accessed 27 February 2024.

“Causes – Post-traumatic stress disorder.” NHS, https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/causes/. Accessed 27 February 2024.