PTSD In All Quiet On The Western Front

The most common psychological issue that soldiers faced is a disorder known as “PTSD” or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is caused by the witness of an extremely traumatic event. Bombing, shelling, and even witnessing a close one die were all things that would have triggered a stress related disorder. Many soldiers, although young, began to feel worn out and old from the long, tiring years of the war. “I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow.

PTSD is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event, either experiencing it or witnessing it. Some of the most common symptoms of PTSD include recurring memories or nightmares of the event(s), sleeplessness, loss of interest, or feeling numb, anger, and irritability, but there are many ways PTSD can impact your everyday life. Sometimes these symptoms don’t surface for months or years after the event or returning from deployment. They may also come and go, which makes it really hard for the soldiers to adjust mentally. This Disorder made it hard for many soldiers to find work and be able to just live a normal daily

As a result of these horrors, those involved often were afflicted by “shell shock,” “battle fatigue,” or, as it is known today, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

No one wants to go to war. The presence of war in a country can destroy the economy and any stability there was. One of the more noticeable effects is the negative impact war has on the availability of food, which is harmful for both civilians and soldiers. It is possible to see this through the lenses of All Quiet on the Western Front and A Long Way Gone, as well as their real-world counterparts World War I and the Sierra Leone civil war.

They see things we could never imagine which can alter their reality and way of thinking. PTSD is very real and very common in our soldiers. Another reason war is

"Forgive me, comrade; how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and uniforms you could be my brother just like Kat and Albert (Remarque 223)". Comradeship among soldiers is a major theme throughout the novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front" because the soldiers knew each other before the war, protected each other during combat, and can relate to one another without having to literally speak. This story 's theme shows comradeship because Paul and the other soldiers were in class together before joining the war. In the beginning of the novel Paul introduces his friends he went to school with before going to war with. "

The Effects of Shell Shock Soldiers who had bayoneted men in the face had developed twitches of their own face muscles. Stomach pains conquered men who stabbed their enemies in the abdomen. Snipers lost eye sight. Terrifying nightmares of being unable to take out bayonets from the enemies' bodies stayed with them long after the killing. Shell shock is a serious disorder and WW1 cases such as these caused a giant step into the study of psychology.

Throughout the ages, wars have wreaked havoc and caused great destruction that lead to the loss of millions of lives. However, wars also have an immensely destructive effect on the individual soldier. In the novel All Quiet on the Western Front written by Erich Maria Remarque, one is able to see exactly to what extent soldiers suffered during World War 1 as well as the effect that war had on them. In this essay I will explain the effect that war has on young soldiers by referring to the loss of innocence of young soldiers, the disillusionment of the soldiers and the debasement of soldiers to animalistic men. Many soldiers entered World War 1 as innocent young boys, but as they experienced the full effect of the war they consequently lost their innocence.

Dangerous and intense situations typically lead to certain devastating consequences to a persons both emotional and physical health. As result of these experiences, there is often not only exterior injuries, but also the non visual psychological damage that is just as hard, if not harder, to resolve. One commonality throughout all wars is this unseen casualty known as PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder. Tim O’Brien, veteran of the Vietnam war, demonstrates how PTSD affects soldiers in countless ways in his novel The Things They Carried. He uses fictional but lovable characters that readers can easily relate to, intensifying their emotional engagement in the book.

Those who had mental illnesses were placed in institutions that were essentially like jails, and those patients were mistreated heavily, confined in small spaces, and were receiving harsh methods of treatment. The first account of the term PTSD being used is in 1980; one hundred and fifteen years after the Civil War. The Civil War was essentially the reason that mental health- especially in soldiers coming home from war- was finally being researched. Until PTSD was given its name in 1980, it was called shell shock- referring to the reaction to the explosion of artillery shells-, war neuroses, combat stress reaction, and battle fatigue ("History of Mental Health"). Overall, mental health was not thoroughly researched until post Civil War when soldiers that came home showed -what will be known as PTSD-

Bruce Dohrenwend, and his colleagues have done research on the percentage of people affected by PTSD, “The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) of a representative sample of 1200 veterans estimated that 30.9% had developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their lifetimes and that 15.2% were currently suffering from PTSD”(Dohrenwend et al). Monaco, Perry, and Walowick all experienced these symptoms at one point in Fallen

For instance, war veterans sometimes cannot view fireworks as it induces fear in them due to the sound of the explosions seeming like gun shots. In Slaughterhouse-Five, author Kurt Vonnegut, a former soldier in World War II, explores the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder by identifying the underlying causes, highlighting the impacts and symptoms of PTSD, and evaluating coping mechanisms. During a time period where post-traumatic stress disorder was still incredibly controversial, Vonnegut utilized the character of Billy Pilgrim to identify the causes of PTSD. The mental disorder can have many causes as explained in the article “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” in which the National Institute of Mental Health states, “Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event.

Human suffering is a major topic in both “All Quiet on the Western Front” and in “Civilization and its Discontents”. Sigmund Freud discuses and presents his theory’s on how people and society work and think while Maria Remarque describes the Life of a German solider in World War One. Freud underlines the reasons why humans suffer and Remarque describes a story where these aspect of suffering are present. Suffering is part of everyone’s lives and is present in society for several of reasons. People, their own body’s and the world around them causes suffering.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that follows the experience of a traumatic event. Of the 2.7 million American veterans that served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, at least 20% were diagnosed with PTSD (Veterans Statistics). PTSD affects everyone differently but the most common symptoms of PTSD include: reliving the event, increased anxiety, and avoiding any reminders of the trauma (Robinson,Segal, Smith). These symptoms negatively affect their life

It may come and go over the years too. The significant impact of PTSD on the lives of veterans afflicted gives doctors a greater understanding of this illness. With knowledge about PTSD, returning veterans can seek the early diagnosis and treatment they need, giving them a chance to recover. Many veterans have spoken and stressed that the PTSD will never go away, even with treatment, group therapy, counseling, or medication. Awareness and understanding can also help and support the families.