Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/medicine-on-the-western-front-part-two/war-office-report-on-shell-shock
Those whispering guns – O Christ, I want to go out
And screech at them to stop – I'm going crazy;
I'm going stark, staring mad because of the guns.
This is an extract from the poem Repression of War by Siegfried Sassoon. The poet experienced the horrors of World War one, serving as an officer and wrote this poem to describe the trauma a young soldier might experience even years after the conflict. No injury better encapsulates this feeling than that of Shell Shock. A term coined by the soldiers of the first world war, in was a catch all term for the myriad of conditions brought on by the stresses of the war. It is a visceral description for just what the soldiers faced on a daily basis. In today’s video we will cover what shell shock is, how it was viewed and treated and how shell shock helped redefine how we view mental illness.
nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/medicine-on-the-western-front-part-two/war-office-report-on-shell-shock
Those whispering guns – O Christ, I want to go out
And screech at them to stop – I'm going crazy;
I'm going stark, staring mad because of the guns.
This is an extract from the poem Repression of War by Siegfried Sassoon. The poet experienced the horrors of World War one, serving as an officer and wrote this poem to describe the trauma a young soldier might experience even years after the conflict. No injury better encapsulates this feeling than that of Shell Shock. A term coined by the soldiers of the first world war, in was a catch all term for the myriad of conditions brought on by the stresses of the war. It is a visceral description for just what the soldiers faced on a daily basis. In today’s video we will cover what shell shock is, how it was viewed and treated and how shell shock helped redefine how we view mental illness.
