Recommended Books on PTSD for the Nonspecialist Reader
A National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet
by Fred Lerner, D.L.S., Information Scientist
Although Posttraumatic Stress Disorder entered the formal nomenclature of
psychiatry in 1980, it is hardly a new phenomenon. Homer and Shakespeare
described its symptoms, but the Vietnam War brought PTSD to the attention of
the American public. However, the disorder is not restricted to combat
veterans. Survivors of the Holocaust, victims of natural disasters, those who
have undergone torture or sexual abuse, all are susceptible to the nightmares,
intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and emotional numbing that cloud the lives of
many former soldiers. There is an extensive, interdisciplinary literature on
PTSD, but much of it is inaccessible except to mental-health specialists. The
nine books described here provide authoritative information on this disorder
for the nonprofessional reader. (We have given the International Standard Book
Number for each book to make it easier to find these titles in bookstores and
libraries.)
Many Americans associate PTSD with veterans of the Vietnam War; indeed,
before the American Psychiatric Association added the disorder to its
diagnostic nomenclature, it was often called "post-Vietnam syndrome."
The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, completed in 1988, was a
massive scientific study of "the prevalence and incidence of PTSD and
other psychological problems in readjusting to civilian life." Trauma and the Vietnam War Generation
(Brunner/Mazel, 1990, $21.95, ISBN 0-87630-573-7) reports on findings from the
NVVRS. Although written for mental-health professionals and policy makers, it
is accessible to any serious reader and is the essential starting point for a
study of what the Vietnam War has done to those who fought in it.
In Coping with Trauma: A Guide to
Self-Understanding (American Psychiatric Press, 1995, $23.95,
0-88048-720-8), Jon Allen, a clinical psychologist at the Menninger Clinic,
explains the effects of traumatic experience on the survivor's personality,
physiological functioning, and social relationships. He discusses the symptoms
of PTSD, dissociative disorders, and other recognized psychiatric disorders
associated with trauma and describes treatment approaches and self-help
techniques.
Trauma and Recovery (Basic Books,
1992, out of print hard, 0-465-08765-5; 1993, $14.00 paper, 0-465-08766-3)
offers a feminist perspective and links sexual and domestic violence with
combat and political terror. These traumas have similar effects on
survivors. Survivors experience denial
and a feeling of disempowerment. Drawing upon published research and her own
clinical work, Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman asserts that just as
"traumatic syndromes have basic features in common, the recovery process
also follows a common pathway." Trauma
and Recovery explores ways in which the treatment process can empower the
survivor.
Traumatic Stress: The Effects of
Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society by Bessel A. Van Der
Kolk, Alexander C. McFarlane, and Lars Weisaeth (Editors) presents a
comprehensive synthesis of research on and clinical knowledge of traumatic
stress and its treatment. The book examines the history of individual and
societal responses to trauma, acute traumatic reactions, adaptations to trauma,
mechanisms and processes of memory, developmental and cultural issues, and
treatment issues. Controversies in the field are addressed, such as the role of
memory, the relationships between biological and psychological processes, and
legal issues.
Aphrodite Matsakis is a psychotherapist specializing in PTSD who has worked
extensively with Vietnam veterans and survivors of child sexual abuse. In I Can't Get Over It: A Handbook for Trauma
Survivors (New Harbinger Publications, 1992, $24.95 hard, 1-879237-26-1;
$12.95 paper, 1-879237-25-3), she explains in detail the symptoms of PTSD and
suggests a wide variety of techniques for coping with them. A new edition of
her 1988 book Vietnam Wives: Facing the
Challenges of Life with Veterans Suffering Post Traumatic Stress (Sidran
Press, 1996, $19.95 paper, 1-886968-00-4) deals with the additional stresses
arising from midlife as well as those stemming from the experience of combat.
Patience Mason writes from personal experience in Recovering from the War: A Woman's Guide to Helping Your Vietnam Vet,
Your Family, and Yourself (Viking, 1990, out of print hard, 0-670-81587-X;
Penguin, 1990, out of print paper, 0-14-009912-3; hardcover copies still
available from Patience Press, P.O. Box 2757, High Springs FL 32643 at $27.50
postpaid). Her husband, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, developed all the
symptoms of PTSD. Mason describes the Vietnam experience and its impact on
veterans and tells what a family needs to do to heal itself from the lasting
wounds of Vietnam.
The experience of trauma has been reflected in some of the world's greatest
literature. In Achilles in Vietnam:
Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (Atheneum, 1994, $20.00 hard,
0-689-12182-2; Touchstone Books, 1995, $12.00 paper, 0-684-81321-1), Veterans
Affairs psychiatrist Jonathan Shay explores the similarities between the
experiences of the Vietnam veterans he has worked with and the soldiers
portrayed by Homer in the Iliad.
Leonard Shengold's Soul Murder: The
Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation (Yale University Press, 1989,
out of print hard, 0-300-04522-0; Fawcett, 1991, $12.00 paper, 0-449-90549-7)
examines the adult lives of child abuse survivors from a psychoanalytic
perspective. Drawing from the lives and works of Chekhov, Dickens, Kipling, and
Orwell, he demonstrates the ubiquity of deliberate abuse and its devastating
effects.
Students and other readers wanting more detailed information on PTSD should
consult Lisa S. Beall's excellent bibliographic essay, "Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder," in the February 1997 issue of the academic librarians'
journal Choice (pp. 917-930). It
discusses over one hundred books, journals, and films recommended for academic
library collections. Many of these should be available at college libraries and
can be obtained through interlibrary loan by most public libraries.
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