Combat Trauma In The Civil War

USATODAY.com - Study: Combat trauma seen in Civil War:
"Warring soldiers have carried home psychological scars for centuries. In American wars, the phenomenon has been called shell shock, combat fatigue and post-Vietnam syndrome. Medical authorities first accepted PTSD as a distinct psychiatric condition in 1980 at the urging of Vietnam veterans and their doctors."

Although some reasonably question the accuracy of the scientific research, this article shows that war trauma has been a problem much longer than just the past few wars. Of all the wars in American history, the Civil War was very possibly not only the most costly in terms of lives lost, but also in terms of lives destroyed.