g this introduction reviews the evolution of the phenomenon from (shell shock( to PTSD within a war-related context. This review is followed by a discussion of PTSD within the context of the APA treatment of the disorder in that organization(s Diagnostic and Statistic Manual (DSM). Following the discussion of the DSM treatment of PTSD, the extension of the disorder to non war-related trauma-induced stress is reviewed.
From (Shell Shock( to PTSD with Respect to War-Related
(Shell shock( is the term for the psychological condition wherein a soldier ceases to be able to function and can no longer cope with the combat environment (Kentsmith 89). Freud observed the phenomenon of (shell shock( in the First World War and saw it as proof of his theory that life events cause mental neuroses.
Studies of soldiers in the Second Work War found no correlation between individual personality traits and severe reactions to war-related trauma-induced stress (Kentsmith 91). Rather, these studies found that those susceptible to such reactions was affected by a combination of the environmental stress to which an individual was exposed and the support that individual could muster against such stress. Those at highest risk are individuals exposed to the highest-levels of combat-zone stress, individuals who are wounded in action, and individuals who are incarcerated as prisoners of war (Friedman, Schnurr, and McDonagh-Coyle 268).
One study of American veterans of the Second World War found that combat veterans who grew up in privileged households and attended an elite university developed relatively few symptoms of PTSD (Bower 229). Respondents in this study, however, were found to have developed more chronic physical illnesses and to have died earlier than those individuals who experienced little or no combat. These data were held to confirm that (severity of trauma is the best predictor of who is likely to develop PTSD( (Bower 229). ...