"One of the cruxes of war... [trauma] is the collision between events and the language available - or thought appropriate - to describe them... The problem was less one of language than of gentility and optimism... The real reason that soldiers [trauma survivors] fall silent is because they have discovered that no one is very interested in the bad news they have to report. What listener wants to be torn and shaken when he doesn't have to be? We have made unspeakable mean indescribable: it really means nasty."

Paul Fussell, "The Great War in Modern Memory"

Thank you, Kitty. You are very articulate and your comment made my world less lonely. :-)