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Diagnosis and Its Discontents: Chaim Shatan and the Definition of Military Trauma

2020; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 21; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/15240657.2020.1798181

1940-9206

Ghislaine Boulanger,

Military History and Strategy

In rereading Shatan’s troubling paper “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” the author reflects on her association with Shatan in the late seventies as he was pressing the editors of the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III) to include a diagnosis that would encompass the symptoms of what he called Post Vietnam Syndrome. Although Shatan succeeded in getting the diagnosis “posttraumatic stress disorder” included in DSM-III, the diagnosis fell short and continues to fall short of capturing the symptoms to which combat veterans fall prey. The author suggests that this oversight has led to the inadequate treatment choices endorsed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the mounting suicide rate among combat veterans today.