"post-traumatic syndrome" 1960

[James A. Landau]

Joel Berson wrote:

>What does OED3 now have for "post-traumatic syndrome"?  The earliest
>1. I find in OED2 is 1973; and for "post-traumatic stress syndrome", 1989.
>
>Modern specialists classify Sumner's illness as "post-traumatic
>syndrome," in which numerous symptoms without objective causes follow
>a traumatic experience, such as an accident (trauma) in which the
>patient is not seriously injured.
>
>1960.  David Donald, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War
>(NY, Alfred A. Knopf).
>
>In : The Historian as Detective: Essays on Evidence, Robin W. Winks,
>ed. (NY: Harper & Row, 1969), 364.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder" (abbreviated "PTSD") is in _Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Edition III_ (commonly known as "DSM III") Washington DC:American Psychiatric Association, 1980.  I do not know if it is in the DSM II (1968) or the DSM I (1952).

"Post-traumatic stress disorder", in my experience at least, is the term that is now universally used.

The news media frequently use the term "traumatized" which as far as I can figure out means "afflicted with PTSD".

I have in front of me an short undated (probably early 1980's) bibliography on the subject of PTSD among Vietnam Veterans.  The following entries may be of interest:

Futerman, S. & Pumpian-Mindlin, E. Treaumatic war neuroses five years later.  _American Journal of Psychiatry_, 1951, 108(6):401-408

Archibald, H.E. & Tuddenham, R.D. Persistent stress reaction after combat: A twenty-year follow-up.  _Archives of General Psychiatry_, 1965, 12:475-481

Seligman, M.E.P. & Maier, S.F. Failure to escape traumatic shock.  _Journal of Experimental Psychology_, 1967, 74:1-9.

Horowitz, M. J. ^ Solomon, G. F.  A prediction of delayed stress response syndromes in Vietnam veterans.  In D. M. Mantell ^ Pilsuk (Eds.), _Journal of Social Issues: Soldiers In and After Vietnam_, 1974, 31 (4):67-80

My layman's understanding is that what is now known as PTSD was first recognized in World War I, where it was euphemistically dubbed "shell shock".  In World War II the US Army at least had a better understanding of stress problems and classified PTSD as "psychoneurosis", a term that lasted in the US Army until at least 1969 in the job title "psychoneurotic counselor".  In layman's usage the condition was called "battle fatigue" or "combat fatigue".  I found a 1964 book which called it "stress fatigue".  The "PTSD" term, I would guess, was coined by the authors of the DSM III, or if coined earlier was widely disseminated by the DSM III.

What was wrong with "combat fatigue"?  The fact that PTSD can occur among people who have never been in combat, e.g. rape victims.

    - Jim Landau

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