Combat Stress
| Founded | 12 May 1919 |
|---|---|
| Type | Charitable organisation |
| Registration no. | England and Wales: 206002 (as Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society) |
| Focus | Treating post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health issues |
| Location |
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|
Area served
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United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Charles, Prince of Wales (Patron) General Sir Peter Wall (President) |
|
Revenue
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£14.96 million (2015) |
|
Employees
|
285 (2015) |
|
Volunteers
|
55 (2015) |
| Slogan | The Veterans' mental health charity. |
| Website | www |
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Formerly called
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Ex-Services Mental Welfare Society Ex-Servicemen's Welfare Society |
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 illness 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-Servicemen's Welfare Society, following World War I when the effects of shell shock were becoming known.
The soldiers returning home from World War I 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:
In August 1916 Charles Myers was made Consulting Psychologist to the Army. He hammered home the notion that it was necessary to create special centres near the line using treatment based on:
He also used hypnosis with limited success.
In December 1916 Gordon Holmes was put in charge of the northern, and more important, part of the western front. He had much more of the tough attitudes of the Army and suited the prevailing military mindset and so his view prevailed. By June 1917 all British cases of “Shell-shock” were evacuated to a nearby neurological centre and were labelled as NYDN–Not Yet Diagnosed Nervous”. "But, because of the Adjutant-General’s distrust of doctors, no patient could receive that specialist attention until Form AF 3436 had been sent off to the man’s unit and filled in by his commanding officer." This created significant delays but demonstrated that between 4-10% of Shell-shock W cases were "commotional" (due to physical causes) and the rest were "emotional". This killed off shell-shock as a valid disease and it was abolished in September 1918.
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Wikipedia