Ordre vedrørende officerer og andre grader uden synlige skader, 1917
Spørgsmålet om diagnose af de psykiske 'sår' var ømtåleligt. I begyndelsen af krigen havde man primært iagttaget granatchok, når en soldat var blevet kvæstet af en eksplosion. Granatchok blev regnet for en lidelse på linje med andre og gav soldaterne ret til at bære synlige tegn på at grunden til at han ikke var i aktiv tjeneste, var at han var såret. Som krigen fortsatte kunne man iagttage flere og flere forskellige symptomer. Samtidig begyndte også en diskussion om hvordan den form for ukampdygtighed skulle diagnosticeres og benævnes. Desuden steg udgifterne for behandling og pleje af denne gruppe patienter – nogle kunne aldrig vende tilbage til aktiv tjeneste. I Storbritannien fandt man det nødvendigt at introducere et nyt sæt regler lige inden det næste stort anlagte angreb: Passchendaele.
Nedenstående er den ordre, der blev udsendt til alle medicinsk personalegrupper den 7. juni 1917, syv uger inden slaget blev indledt.
General Routine Order No. 2384
Classification and disposal of officers and other ranks who without any visible wound become non-effective from physical conditions claimed or presumed to have originated from the effects of British or enemy weapons in action.
(1) All officers and other ranks who become non-effective in the above category, and whose transfer from their unit or division is unavoidable, will be sent to the Special Hospital set apart for their reception under the order of the Army Commander.
(2) The Regimental Medical Officer, or officer commanding a medical unit, who in the first instance deals with a case which it is necessary to transfer to the Special Hospital, will not record any diagnosis. He will enter on the Field medical Card or other transfer paper the letters 'NYDN' (Not Yet Diagnosed, Nervous) only, and note any definitely known facts as to the true origin or the previous history of the case […]
(5) […] In no circumstances whatever will the expression 'shellshock' be used verbally or be recorded in any regimental or other casualty report, or in any hospital or other medical document, except in cases classified by the order of the officer commanding the Special Hospital. The DAG, GHQ, 3rd Echelon, will notify the commanding officer of the unit of any case so classified.
(6) These orders do not apply to cases of gas poisoning, which will be dealt with as heretofore.
(7) All previous orders and instructions on this subject are cancelled.
Fra: Lyn MacDonald, Roses of No Mans Land, (Penguin, 1993), s.236-237.
