Hacker News Reader

I suspect we'll find that there's a difference between what was called shell shock (brain damage from blast waves) and PTSD (psychological trauma), and that it's possible to suffer from one or the other, or both.

View on HN

It has already been confirmed, using a microscope:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/magazine/what-if-ptsd-is-m...

(NOTE: This is for some of what goes under the umbrella term "PTSD", so of course not for every single diagnosis. Only the people exposed to such shock waves.)

Shell Shock wasn't about brain damage it's what it just was called because it was a convenient name, later in Korea it was called combat fatigue and after vietnam we had PTSD. PTSD cases have been recorded in cases with or without physical trauma including TBI, and not everyone gets it even under the same circumstances. You can have a platoon of troops on the same deployment, going through exactly the same stuff day in and day out but not everyone would develop PTSD.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com