This is a group of patients with strange diseases who cannot stand and walk normally, and cannot help but shiver even if the weather is warm.
Patient wrapped in a blanket
When I fall asleep at night, I am often awakened by nightmares.
Screaming patients
The patients were British soldiers during World War I. At that time, the medical community did not understand this strange disease, but because it mostly occurred on the battlefield, it was given a name "bullet shock disease".
Panic-stricken soldiers with "stun syndrome"
Now, ''Spyrocystia' has a more scientific and specific scientific name ptsd (post-traumatic stress disorder). It refers to the chaotic reactions of people to physical and psychological manifestations after encountering a major traumatic event, because their lives are seriously threatened, or after witnessing the death of another person.
ptsd
During World War I, the British soldier William G witnessed the officer next to him being blown to pieces. After being treated, he suffered from severe ptsd, and in addition to frequent vomiting and shaking, he often woke up from nightmares and even lost some of his memories of the war.
A documentary clip from "The Secret Shame of world war I"
According to current medical research, the disease ptsd is mainly manifested as 4 symptoms
1. Traumatic re-experience
Similar scenes can make patients feel emotional and remind them of painful traumatic experiences. Tammy, a middle-aged woman who spent 12 years in the Lebanese civil war, was deeply engraved in her mind and became an indelible shadow. This caused her to be so frightened that her legs went limp when she heard the sound of jets, and she even wanted to protect her children.
Screenshot of Tammy's interview
2. Avoidance and numbness symptoms
Patients avoid people and things that are easy to touch as much as possible. Victor, a veteran of World War II, worked day and night to escape the memories of the tragic death of his comrades and the massacre of the enemy after the war. Even when rushing to the work place, he deliberately did not choose a fast car and train, but chose to ride more than 80 miles, exhausting himself before stopping.
Photo of Frank riding
3. Increased alertness
Patients are prone to inattention and may experience anxiety. Leno, who participated in the Normandy Grand Landings. Marie, watching countless comrades being killed by ambushed enemy troops. After surviving, his guilt accompanied him throughout his life, and even if he did not make any mistakes, the man thought that he should die on the battlefield with his comrades-in-arms, rather than live in the world.
Leno in old age. Marie photo
4. Miscellaneous
Patients paralyze themselves with alcohol or other activities and are even prone to aggressive and suicidal behavior.
Ptsd's disease is prone to a high incidence period during wartime, but war is not the only prerequisite for detonating the disease.
Soldiers suffering from ptsd
In fact, major traumatic events such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and school bullying also have the possibility of making people suffer from ptsd. In addition, the disease is also closely related to genetic factors, neuroendocrine, education level, personality characteristics and other external conditions.
Domestic violence cartoons
The appearance of ptsd disease in humans has been recorded as early as the ancient Greek period, but it took more than three thousand years from the discovery of human beings to the correct understanding of this disease and then the correct treatment.
The Girl Who Was Sexually Assaulted - From the Movie "Princess Han"
During this period, because people's understanding of the disease is not yet comprehensive, most patients are suffering greatly while still having difficulty getting the right treatment. Around 1945, when the patients were on the verge of mental breakdown, the mental hospital also used cruel electric shock therapy on them.
Patients treated by electric shocks – from the movie "Flying Over the Madhouse"
In addition, the patient's condition cannot be understood by the family. Victor, the aforementioned Soldier of World War II, was abandoned by his family. His wife chose to leave him because she couldn't stand his uncertainty.
Photo of World War II soldier Frank and his wife
But none of the above is the most cruel. During World War I, the British sent 3,000 suspected soldiers suspected of suffering from PTSD to trial and executed 306 of them on desertion. Those poor soldiers, even if they die, bear decades of cowardly infamy.
Related Case Files - From the Documentary The Secret Shame of World War I Bomb Shock Disorder
It wasn't until 1980 that PTSD was recognized as a mental illness. Patients no longer have to suffer the double blows of illness and discrimination, and the soldiers who have been wronged for decades have finally ushered in the rightful name.
To some extent, ptsd and Stockholm syndrome have certain similarities: they are abnormal manifestations made by people after facing a terrorist event, due to the body's self-defense mechanism.
It's just that ptsd is the fear and escape that people show about the trauma of the past.
Ptsd patients
Stockholm syndrome, on the other hand, is manipulated by people to seek business ideas, and to show contrasting kindness and gratitude to the perpetrators.
Photograph of the case of the origin of Stockholm Syndrome
It can only be said that the spiritual psychology of human beings is very profound and wonderful, and we need to study it deeply, and we need to learn to respect it first.