The move from shell shock to PTSD- war veterans are not the only ones to suffer.

August 15th this year will be the 70th Anniversary of Victory in Japan Day, an anniversary often overlooked as Victory in Europe Day is more widely acknowledged (The Royal British Legion, Poppy Press  Summer 2015).  The brutality suffered by the Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOWS) at the hands of their Japanese captors has been widely documented and in 1945 when the surviving FEPOWS were repatriated to the UK there was no psychological support available to them despite many experiencing what we would now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Those that had been in the trenches in Europe who had developed “shell shock” were often labelled cowards and denied their army pay/pension, many of their symptoms are also what we would now recognise as PTSD.  We now acknowledge that psychological suffering is just as valid and debilitating as physical suffering, and thankfully there are highly trained therapists and a growing recognition of the symptoms and treatment of PTSD for our military personnel.  However, you do not have to have been involved in a war or conflict to experience PTSD…those involved in serious accidents, abuse, terrorist attacks, receiving horrific news from the police may all be triggers to developing PTSD.  There is more about PTSD on my website, if you would like to talk any aspect of your experience, please contact Kim without obligation.