A Vietnam Trilogy. Vol. 1

Sound Bite

A Vietnam Trilogy describes the impact of war on veterans from a psychiatric, psychological, social and cultural perspective, both during their service and decades after the war. The author is an internationally recognized expert on war and post-traumatic stress therapy.Through the stories of veterans and through his own experiences during the Vietnam War, where he served as a psychiatric social work officer, and his extensive post-war experiences as a mental health professional,�  Dr. Scurfield analyzes war's psychological and social impact on military personnel ' and the implications for today's combat and noncombat personnel and veterans. His insights are informed by� his service in 1968 and two return visits to peacetime Vietnam, accompanied by fellow veterans, in 1989 and 2000, and by his ongoing work with veterans in the US who are still working to recover from their experiences in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Aghanistan and other conflicts.

About the Book

The large numbers of psychiatric casualties from war used to be attributed to an underlying psychiatric disorder ' presenting the classic blame-the-victim scenario. When they were finally classified as what is now known as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), the path was opened for more realistic and fruitful healing techniques. A Vietnam Trilogy, a 3-volume work, describes a care-giver's and numerous veterans' perspectives of what happens to combatants during war, the therapeutic processes fostered by an innovative Dept. of Veteran Affairs treatment program directed by Dr. Scurfield, and the pioneering return trips he co-led to peace-time Vietnam in 1989 and 2000.Volume I relates the experiences of veterans and care-givers who participated in these therapeutic efforts, offering others an opportunity to gain a sense of what is entailed. For families, care-givers, students and teachers of history, and others, the book provides a glimpse ' from the participants' view ' of the shock, the horrors, the overwhelming stress, and the mindset that were so damaging to personnel in the war zone, as well as of the extraordinary courage and strength necessary to survive. Finally, it offers insight into creative therapeutic approaches and recommendations for veterans and those who wish to help them recover from the traumas of war.Through the wrenching stories of numerous veterans and the author's own understanding as a mental health professional who served in Vietnam, A Vietnam Trilogy reflects Scurfield's three-fold experiences. He describes his and his comrades' experiences in 1968, when he served as an Army social work officer attempting to help acute battlefield psychiatric casualties; Scurfield describes the healing process fostered by an innovative Dept. of Veteran Affairs treatment program and precedent-setting return trips he led to peace-time Vietnam in 1989 and 2000.A Vietnam Trilogy offers Vietnam veterans and other veterans a chance to share in the healing by relating the experiences of those who participated in these therapeutic efforts, and it offers recommendations to veterans and those who wish to help them. These therapy breakthroughs for veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are now the model for innovative programs across America; and they will be the foundation for programs to help today's veterans of the Iraq War.Vietnam Trilogy is about a side of war that for decades pro-military and pro-defense advocates have systematically suppressed, minimized and denigrated as being falsely exaggerated ' the indelible and profound human cost of war on its participants that can and does persist for decades. The 3.14 million Vietnam war-zone veterans and 800,000 Vietnam-theater veterans suffering full or partial post-traumatic stress syndrome, and their families will find it invaluable.Especially in the post 9/11, post-Iraq world, this trilogy is important reading for academics and mental health professionals including graduate and under-grad students in history, psychology, social work and religion, and professionals in psychiatry, clinical nursing, counseling, and religion, and academic specialists interested in study-abroad programs.