When Was PTSD Recognized?

This story is part of an ongoing series about PTSD for families of civilian contractors.

Post-traumatic stress disorder has always been part of human experience. We just haven’t called it that until relatively recently. Do we know when PTSD was recognized?

In ancient literature and Biblical accounts of battle, there are mentions of “fright” or “extreme sadness” or mental health problems that today we would call post-traumatic stress disorder.

When Was PTSD Recognized?

The Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War PTSD was not front and center in the news nor in the medical care provided to our nation’s brave and strong veterans. So when was PTSD recognized?

It’s taken a long time for the effects of trauma to be realized for what they are, a mental health disorder brought about by an event, rather than a personal weakness. For generations, symptoms were ignored or people were expected to get over it quickly and return to normal activities. Families often were split apart by or suffered along with the person who had the disorder.

The 1700s Called It Nostalgia

According to an article by Dr. Matthew Friedman of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, there has been medical documentation as far back as the mid-1700s, when doctors wrote about “nostalgia.”

Da Casta’s Syndrome

In the Civil War, a military doctor, Jacob Mendez Da Casta, noted symptoms of anxiety, rapid breathing, and overstimulation of the nervous system in soldiers. The problems were called “Da Casta’s Syndrome.”

The start of the Industrial Revolution resulted in more documented cases, and they were called “railway brain” or “railway spine.” That’s because there were so many horrible train accidents from the brand new machinery and they traumatized surviving victims.

World War I Shell Shock

In World War I, “shell shock” was used to describe reactions to the explosions of artillery shells. Shell shock first was thought to result from damage to the brain from the impact of the explosions but that thinking changed when soldiers who were not near the explosions had similar symptoms. 

World War II Battle Fatigue

During World War II, symptoms were called “battle fatigue” or “war neurosis” or “combat stress reaction.”  At the start of the war, because the causes of the disorder were not understood, the military thought that those with potential psychiatric problems could be screened out before being drafted.

The U.S.  had no provisions for psychiatric treatment until the North African campaign in 1943, according to research published in Dialogues in Clinical Neurosis.

1952 Gross Stress Reaction

The American Psychiatric Association in 1952 produced the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and included “gross stress reaction’ as a diagnosis for people with anxiety, insomnia, and flashbacks. Again, it was assumed that the person’s problems would go away quickly and if they lasted more than six months it was probably due to another illness.

1980 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Official

Finally, in 1980, post-traumatic stress disorder became an official diagnosis in the DSM mostly because of research done on Vietnam veterans, Holocaust survivors and victims of sexual abuse. The links between the trauma of war and continuing symptoms in civilian life were confirmed.

PTSD Today

Civilian contractors who’ve served in war zones have suffered from this disorder. What’s frightening is that unlike veterans, civilian contractors do not undergo exit interviews. Without an exit interview there is no way of verifying that a civilian contractor has PSTD.

Find out if you can get help under the Defense Base Act Law. If you’re being sent into a conflict zone, be aware of the potential for this happening and know what your rights are if you experience post-traumatic stress disorder.