This is principally about the mental impact of conflict rather than that of its physical affect. I include conflicts ranging from a few badly chosen words to that of a fully blown war. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me" turns out to be a completely fallacious statement. It is a march from a position of bright naive innocence to the dark reality of conflict and its consequences.
A much larger portion of minds as opposed to bodies are affected by conflict, even when the conflict is a physical one. Mental problems do not show themselves like physical wounds do but are carried deep within the person where it may lay dormant or where the person may rationalise away the effects of its existence. More often the individual's embarrassment at their condition and realisation of frailty make them unwilling to upset their family and friends by exposing them to it. After all it is a personal fight and they would be unable to help anyway. By trying to help loved are placing themselves in a position where they could easily fall victim and so rather than being of any help they would end up compounding the problem.
"Shredded" appeared to be a good name for the picture because the affect of mental illness is more like a rasp or whip gouging shreds of flesh which are left to dangle from the body. Unlike the clean cut of a blade meaning and understanding are left flaying with no easy way of healing them back together. For these reasons I have actually carefully shredded the canvas in the shape of soldiers rather than paint them to portray not the showy relief of a physical wound but a carved shredded recess of a wound that cannot be seen directly but only by the shadow cast when the light catches it in a certain way. I have chosen soldiers as this is an easy way to signify battle and struggle.