The Unending TraumaA Librarian's Guide to Books on PTSD by Fred Lerner, D.L.S. Information Scientist Though post-traumatic stress disorder entered the formal nomenclature of psychiatry in 1980, it is hardly a new phenomenon. Homer and Shakespeare have described its symptoms, but it was the Vietnam War that brought PTSD to the attention of the American public. 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 and intrusive thoughts, the 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 to the lay reader. These eight books will help a public or undergraduate library offer its readers authoritative information on this disorder. 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 findings from the NVVRS. Though 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, o.p. hard, 0-465-08765-5; 1993, $14.00 paper, 0-465-08766-3) offers a feminist perspective linking sexual and domestic violence with combat and political terror. These have a common effect on survivors: disempowerment and denial. 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. 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 brought 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, o.p. hard, 0-670-81587-X; Penguin, 1990, o.p. 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), VA psychiatrist Jonathan Shay explores the similarity between the experiences of the Vietnam veterans he has worked with and the soldiers protrayed by Homer in the Iliad. Leonard Shengold's Soul Murder: The Effects of Childhood Abuse and Deprivation (Yale University Press, 1989, o.p. 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. In addition to these titles, librarians should be aware of resources for those readers wanting more detailed information. The International Handbook of Traumatic Stress Syndromes, edited by John P. Wilson and Beverley Raphael (Plenum Press, 1993, $150.00, 0-306-43795-3), is an immense volume whose 84 chapters cover almost every aspect of the subject: theoretical and conceptual foundations, assessment techniques and research methodology, stressors causing the disorder, intervention and treatment strategies, and public policy issues. The contributors include experts from around the world, and the references at the end of each chapter will guide readers to the best of scientific literature. This is not a book for the typical library, but it should be available in university and medical collections. Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society by Bessel A. Van Der Kolk (Editor), Alexander C. McFarlane (Editor), and Lars Weisaeth (Editor), presents a comprehensive synthesis of research and clinical knowledge on 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. An excellent bibliographic essay, "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" by Lisa S. Beall, appears in the February 1997 issue of Choice, pp. 917-930. It discusses over one hundred books, journals, and films for academic library collections. -
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