War Trauma:

Sound Bite

A nationally-renowned authority on post-traumatic stress disorder reveals the psychiatric impact of war on soldiers and veterans, which is denied or minimized by government and the military. Through efforts to treat veterans of past conflicts he illustrates the inevitability of lifelong psychiatric scars from US engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan and other conflicts.Dr. Scurfield discusses what the VA can (but rarely does) do for veterans with PTSD and describes his own work with military personnel and veterans in handling the depression, risk of suicide, and other symptoms of PTSD that so often derive from the trauma of military service in both combat and noncombat positions.

About the Book

War Trauma draws on the experience of prior wars for valuable insights to help people who are now in the military or in the healing professions, and their families and communities, to deal with today s realities of combat and its aftermath which so often entails PTSD (post-traumatic stresss syndrome), depression, and the risk of suicide.This is Part 3 in A Vietnam Trilogy, which studies the psychiatric impact of war on soldiers and veterans, and their families. The effects go on for decades after the violence occurred, and we are still just learning to understand the depth and variety of problems it can cause. Further, Scurfield documents his proven innovative therapies for treating PTSD.This third volume looks at what military and mental health professionals and the Veterans Administration (VA) should have learned from the Vietnam War in order to better protect American servicemen and servicewomen in later conflicts and to help them recover afterwards. The Persian Gulf War, for instance, had an immense impact on veterans of all wars.The author was a national faculty member for joint VA-DOD training programs to enhance mental health response readiness for receiving anticipated medical and psychiatric casualties from the Persian Gulf War. What he found was a resurgence of selective amnesia and denial about the true impact of war.Scurfield notes, "Chillingly, what happened in Vietnam in 1968-69 regarding psychiatric casualties has enormous parallels to what is happening today regarding US psychiatric casualties from the Iraq War."A VIETNAM TRILOGYThe series consists of three volumes:The first volume (Algora 2004), A Vietnam Trilogy. Veterans and Post-Traumatic Stress, 1968, 1989 and 2000, described the healing processes of hundreds of veterans from Vietnam and earlier wars up until 1990, when the author co-led a group of veterans on a therapeutic trip back to Vietnam to "face their demons."Healing Journeys ,the second volume, continues from 1990 to 2000 (including a discussion of the impact of the first Gulf War on veterans of earlier wars) and a second return trip to Vietnam in 2000, as part of a university Study Abroad program, to help veterans in their healing process. The current (third) volume uses the experience of veterans of earlier wars to help US servicemembers and their families and communities, and those in the healing professions, to address the mental health problems caused by combat and its aftermath.