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Archiver > SOG-UK > 1999-03 > 0920807777


From: "Lizzie Love" <>
Subject: [SOG-UK-L] Re: Medical Term
Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1999 11:56:17 -0000


Hello there,

Iain Kerr wrote:
<No. Shell-shock or neurathenia or as it is now call post traumatic stress
syndrome has no physical manifestations - it is a psychological condition. >

What I meant, Iain, is that our forebears had no access to modern
investigative techniques, and had to rely on signs and syptoms. A doctor
faced with a patient exhibiting apparent neurological damage, (tremor, poor
concentration etc) might be inclined to a kindly diagnosis.

We are, as ever, at the mercy of the inventors of terms, and probably cannot
say whether PTSD is a legitimate descendant of shell shock.

The jargonists are currently subjecting us to a flurry of *new* diseases
and conditions which may have been around for millenia. I don't think I
suffer from any of them, although I have been called a "mad cow" on
occasions :-)

Lizzie

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