"The Big Change - Why your New Freedom means NEW RESPONSIBILITIES"

[GWF1967]

No. 356.

[Dave66]

Thanks for sharing GWF….fascinating.

Dave.

[Dave1346]

Although it was nice to learn that there were financial benefits for British military veterans, I think it was sad that mental health was still in its infancy and that discharged veterans (regardless of nationality) had little or no access to treatment for what we now call post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

In 1915, an English doctor named Charles Myers wrote the first paper on "shell shock" and (incorrectly) theorized that the symptoms associated with this illness were the unfortunate results of veterans having been repeatedly exposed to concussive blasts because these blasts caused brain trauma. This theory was disproved when it was determined that some veterans who suffered from shell shock symptoms had not been exposed to concussive blasts. 

In 1918, Lewis Yealland published an article called "Hysterical Disorders of Warfare" and theorized that shell-shock was a man's personal failure that resulted from abject weakness of the spirit. His "cure" involved intensive electroshock therapy, extinguishing burning cigarettes on the patient's outstretched tongue, and placing hot plates against the base of the patient's neck. After nine months of treating "patient A1," the frustrated clinician announced that the patient would not leave the room until he behaved as the hero he was supposed to be. After an hour of continuous electroshock "therapy" the patient broke and Dr. Yealland determined that his theory of shell shock as a disease of manhood instead of illness was correct. His work led in part to a conclusion that was published in 1922 in the British Medical Journal that suggested that shell-shock was the result of poor morale and defective training.

Regarding military benefits, in the United States, discharged veterans received $60 as a discharge allowance. The War Risk Amendment of 1917 also established the opportunity for veterans to receive rehabilitation and vocational training. These benefits were geared towards veterans who had suffered dismemberment, sight, hearing, or other permanent disabilities. 

 

[Mk VII]

The Southborough Committee on Shellshock published its report in 1922, of which a short summary can be found here.  https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/medicine-on-the-western-front-part-two/war-office-report-on-shell-shock/  A reprint was done some years ago, of which I have a copy somewhere. 

Practically all witnesses agreed that the term 'shellshock' should never have been used, but that it was probably too late to dispel it now. 

At the start of WW2 the Americans instituted a psychological screening program to try to reduce the crackup rate by excluding men from the draft who were deemed most likely to succumb to neurosis under war conditions (frequently those deemed to be of low intelligence).  Analysis after 1945 concluded that it had been a waste of effort; the crackup rate was not significantly different from WW1.    

[knittinganddeath]

@GWF1967 Thanks for sharing this! Do you know the original source? I'm writing about prisoners (not POWs) in wartime and the first page of this booklet is quite jarring because it could be just as well be aimed at a man getting out of prison as out of the army.

[GWF1967]

8 hours ago, knittinganddeath said:

@GWF1967 Thanks for sharing this! Do you know the original source? I'm writing about prisoners (not POWs) in wartime and the first page of this booklet is quite jarring because it could be just as well be aimed at a man getting out of prison as out of the army.

Sorry, no. I have no further information. It was an ebay find. I have scanned and posted the full document. 

[DavidOwen]

IWM has a number of related posters - table is National War Savings Committee Poster Number 77 How War Savings Certificates Grow in Value | Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk)