Overview

The war in Vietnam is a watershed moment in United States history -- the first war lost by the U.S. despite its seemingly overwhelming military might. Surviving Vietnam focuses on the psychological consequences, especially posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), of service in such a war for U.S. veterans. The diagnosis of PTSD, termed following and significantly influenced by this war, stirred controversy. Much of the initial controversy centered on a major report in 1990 of what numerous critics regarded as unrealistically high rates of this disorder in U.S. veterans. Controversy continues about whether exposure to one or more potentially traumatic events is more significant to the development and persistence of PTSD than pre-exposure personal vulnerability factors, such as age, education and prior psychiatric disorder. This book describes attempts to resolve these controversies. Surviving Vietnam develops a unique blend of historical material, military records, clinical diagnoses of PTSD, and interviews with representative samples of veterans surveyed approximately a decade (the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study) and nearly four decades (the National Vietnam Veterans Longitudinal Study) after the war's conclusion. The book begins with a history of the Vietnam war that provides context for the discussions of mental health thereafter, the outcomes of the severity of veterans' exposure to combat, their personal involvement in harm to civilians and prisoners, their race-ethnicity, and their military assignments. It discusses nurses' experiences in Vietnam and the psychological impact of veterans' chronic war-related PTSD on their families. Surviving Vietnam then examines factors affecting veterans' post-war readjustment, including the effects of changing public and veteran attitudes toward the war and the veterans' own appraisals of the impact of the war on their lives after the war. The authors conclude with a discussion of the policy implications of the research findings.