A Phenomenological Study Through Symbolic Interactionism Of The Leisure Lifestyles Of Vietnam Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Surveys psychiatric disorders among Vietnam veterans.

First published in 1978. This book represents a unique accomplishment in pulling together in one place the broadest collection of material yet published on the psychological problems of veterans of the Vietnam war. It will provide not only an important historical document, but an invaluable resource in detailing many of the issues involved. This book should lay to rest many of the misconceptions about the Vietnam Veteran.

Through the stories of numerous veterans and the author's own understanding as a mental health professional, A Vietnam Trilogy studies the impact of war on veterans from a psychiatric/psychological, social, and cultural perspective, both during and decades after the violence. The book reflects Scurfield's three-fold experiences in Vietnam, in 1968 as an Army social work officer serving acute battlefield psychiatric casualties; in 1989 when he co-led the first Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder therapy group of veterans back to Vietnam; and in 2000, as co-faculty for an award-winning Vietnam history course including three combat veterans. The book offers Vietnam veterans and other veterans a vicarious "healing journey" by relating the experiences of those who participated in these therapeutic efforts; it offers recommendations to veterans and those who wish to help them; and offers ideas on how some important understandings can be shared to the wider public.

“I broke into a house, entering from the back door. When I left, two people inside were dead. I don’t remember killing them, but I know I must have. All I can remember is the police chasing me. I thought I was in the jungle, with the Cong chasing me, trying to kill me before I could kill them.... I was nineteen years old and the Vietnam War was the high point in my life. I didn’t come home in a body bag or a wheel chair. Even though I thought I had come home a complete person, it’s evident that I didn’t”—from the interview with Gary Cone. Interviews with Vietnam veterans and their family members explain as nothing else can the emotional consequences of wartime experiences. Many of these interviewees are now in prison as a result of the substance abuse or violence that characterizes PTSD.

"Vietnam : a casebook" is the result of a collaborative project among three groups : veterans with PTSD, clinicians from the Cincinnati Center for Psychoanalysis, and researchers from the University of Cincinnati Traumatic Stress Study Center. Part I presents seven detailed case studies, each one offering a vivid portrayal of the particular veterans, mostly in his own words, and each one focusing on a specific psycho-pathological feature of PTSD; psychic numbing, developmental arrest, intrusive phenomena, somatoform illness, emergency dyscontrol, paranoia, and dissociative phenomena. Part II describes clinical aspects of the veteran-therapist relationship basing its discussion not only on the seven cases in Part I, but also on all the 37 cases studied in the project. Part III addresses research issues in the treatment project, including a description of current instruments for PTSD and a new one, the Cincinnati Stress Response Schedule, developed by the research team; comparative combat experience and psychological functioning of the treatment sample and other survivor populations ; treatment efficacy and clinical implications ; and observations regarding intrapsychic changes in the veterans upon completion of treatment.