Combat stress reaction

Combat stress reaction (CSR) is a term used within the military to describe acute behavioral disorganization seen by medical personnel as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue" or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used in civilian psychiatry. It is historically linked to shell shock and can sometimes precurse post-traumatic stress disorder.

Combat stress reaction is an acute reaction that includes a range of behaviors resulting from the stress of battle that decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's surroundings, and inability to prioritize. Combat stress reaction is generally short-term and should not be confused with acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other long-term disorders attributable to combat stress, although any of these may commence as a combat stress reaction.

Combat Stress (charitable organisation)

Combat Stress is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. offering residential and community treatment to former members of the British Armed Forces suffering from a range of mental health conditions including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Combat Stress provides treatment for all Veterans suffering with mental ill-health, free of charge. On average it takes 13 years for a Veteran to come to Combat Stress for treatment, however for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan the time period is much lower.

The charity was formed in 1919, as the Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society, following the First World War when the effects of shell shock were becoming known.

Before 1919

First World War

The soldiers returning home from First World War suffered greatly from the horrors they had witnessed. Many returning veterans suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, called shell shock at the time.

In 1915 The British Army in France was instructed that: