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World War 1 Mental Health Essay

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World war 1 began in 1914 and ended in 1918. The soldiers during world war 1 faced many challenges, some of these included trench warfare. The new way of fighting by trench’s brought many unforeseen challenges. My 3 main points are that there were harsh living conditions, diseases in the trenches and lastly mental health effects on the soldiers.

The living conditions that the soldiers had to face during world war 1 were very bad. The conditions in the trenches were most of the time wet and very unsanitary in which the soldiers had to live almost 24 hours a day. These living conditions let diseases spread like a wildfire. Soldiers went through long periods of boredom in the trenches. The trenches would normally have wood planks at the bottom to funnel out water but during times of heavy rain the trenches would flood and fill with water leading to more diseases. Canada war museum also says “while poor living conditions and a lack of sleep wore away at their health and stamina” these living conditions let diseases spread easily. …show more content…

There were countless different reasons some soldiers got mental health disorders but some of the main reasons are as follows: shellshock, depression,haulation and war neurosis. The main reason that soldiers would get shellshock was from the loud and never ending gun fire and aretlity firing. Some of their symptoms include confusion, fatigue,nightmares ,tremor and impaired sight and hearing. Depression is also a very common thing to happen inside of the trenches due to long times away from family and wondering if they will make it out alive. In conclusion mental health was a very big issue during the trench warfare of world war

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