War Trauma: Lessons Unlearned, From Vietnam to Iraq (HC) (A Vietnam Trilogy) - Hardcover

A Vietnam Trilogy reveals the psychiatric impact of war on soldiers and veterans, denied or minimized by government and the military. The effects go on for decades, and we are still just learning to understand them. Through efforts to treat veterans of past conflicts Raymond Scurfield, a nationally-renowned authority on post-traumatic stress disorder, illustrates the inevitability of lifelong psychiatric, psychological and social scars from today's conflicts as well. In War Trauma, the third volume in A Vietnam Trilogy, he looks at what military and mental health professionals should have learned from the Vietnam War and prior wars for 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. The author was a national faculty member for joint VA-DOD training programs to enhance mental health response readiness in preparation for 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 and Afghanistan Wars." A Vietnam Trilogy offers veterans, their families, their communities and their care providers insights into the nature of the traumas suffered and recommendations for therapy break-throughs for active duty military personnel and veterans with post-traumatic stress, and essential guidance for their families. Scurfield documents his innovative therapies for treating war trauma and PTSD and a comprehensive model yet to be attained in most treatment approaches; they will be the foundation for programs to help today's veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and their families, in addition to veterans of previous wars still suffering from war trauma. * Raymond Monsour Scurfield, DSW, LCSW, ACSW, is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Coast. A Vietnam veteran, he worked for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs for 25 years and directed PTSD mental health programs in Los Angeles, Washington DC, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and American Samoa. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his expertise in war-related PTSD through his leadership of innovative treatment programs, 50+ publications, 250+ presentations, educational videos, national media appearances and research. His most recent publications are on the continuing psychological impact of the events of 9/ll and Hurricane Katrina. Scurfield has received several outstanding university teacher awards, and the 2006 Mississippi Social Worker of the Year Award in recognition of his post-Hurricane Katrina social work activities and post-traumatic stress interventions on the MS Gulf Coast since August 29, 2005. Presenting Scurfield with the Deptartment of Veterans Affairs Olin Teague award in 1988, President Ronald Reagan said, "Your achievements in the study and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder have become landmarks in psychiatry." Scurfield continues to break new ground in the treatment of war-related PTSD.