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ACHILLES IN VIETNAM

Name: ACHILLES IN VIETNAM
Author: Jonathan Shay
ISBN: 0-689-12182-2

COMBAT TRAUMA AND THE UNDOING OF CHARACTER

by Jonathan Shay ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 2, 1994

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In a brilliantly creative extended analogy, psychiatrist Shay (Tufts Medical School) persuasively argues that the experiences and behavior of traumatized Vietnam veterans echo those of Achilles in Homer's Iliad. Shay's ``principal concern is to put before the public an understanding of the specific nature of catastrophic war experiences'' that ``can ruin good character.'' He follows the Iliad closely, showing how Achilles' character, like those of modern veterans, gradually disintegrates under the pressure of organized combat: Arbitrary command decisions (e.g., the seizure by Agamemnon of a war prize voted Achilles by his fellow warriors or the capricious assignment of a GI by a superior to hazardous duty) betray the soldier's sense of fairness and fuel his incipient rage. In combat, the soldier's social and moral horizon then shrinks to a small group of trusted companions, like the Vietnam soldier's ``buddy'' or Achilles' beloved friend Patroklos. Under the stress of combat, the soldier's rage, grief, and sense of abandonment and disconnection culminate in a ``berserk'' state in which he commits successive atrocities. Using first-person accounts of Vietnam veterans, Shay compares each aspect of Achilles' moral deterioration with the veterans' strikingly similar experiences. The author expresses cautious hope that survivors of severe trauma can recover to some degree (although many veterans' lives seem permanently blighted by their Vietnam experiences). He makes some recommendations for ameliorating the worst effects of severe combat trauma; among these are the preservation of unit cohesion throughout the combat experience (rather than, as in Vietnam, rotating individuals into and out of units while engaged in combat) and reform of motivational techniques used by officers in combat. A heart-rending look at the permanent ruin war can wreak in any age.

Pub Date: May 2, 1994

ISBN: 0-689-12182-2

Page Count: 236

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1994

Categories:

PSYCHOLOGY

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THE CULTURE OF SHAME

by Andrew P. Morrison ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

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A ponderous, touchy-feely examination of shame, its causes, and its role in the psychotherapeutic process. While psychoanalyst Morrison (Harvard Medical School) still holds Freud dear, he diverges sharply with his contention that shame—not sex and guilt—lies at the root of most neuroses. Whether the malaise is depression, mania, or feelings of rage, Morrison believes it's usually shame that's to blame. And behind shame, the cause of it all is those most reprehensible of villains, parents, who fail to respond in ways that give a child a sense of self-worth. Society is also guilty of causing shame—through general attitudes toward poverty, race, aging, etc. According to Morrison, the psychoanalyst's job (though you can also try this at home on your own, he notes) is to unmask shame in all its guises, trace its origins, and then help the patient either discuss the shame or develop alternative sources of self-esteem. Some psychoanalysts, such as Stuart Schneiderman in his Saving Face: The Politics of Shame and Guilt (published last month), argue that shame can actually speed the psychoanalytic process, and Carl Goldberg (see p. 194) believes shame can lead to self- understanding. But Morrison can see no good in it. For although shame is sometimes warranted or ``deserved,'' although it helps to preserve civility and social cohesion, Morrison prefers the high road of blind self-affirmation and cosseting the inner child. But beyond the merely anecdotal (cases drawn from his practice), the author offers nothing approaching scientific proof for any of these assertions. Even his case studies are too brief and superficial to make his point.

Pub Date: April 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-345-37484-3

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1996

Categories:

PSYCHOLOGY

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I.D.

HOW TEMPERAMENT AND EXPERIENCE CREATE THE INDIVIDUAL

by Winifred Gallagher ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1996

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An unwieldy assemblage of information on the varied elements- -from genes to neurotransmitters to early life experiences—that are believed to contribute to personality. Science writer Gallagher (The Power of Place, 1993) has assembled but not digested a huge amount of information on the complementary roles of nature and nurture in forming our individual identities. Her book centers on a woman identified as Monica. Monica was studied from her sensually deprived infancy (when an esophageal defect necessitated tube feeding and a depressed mother neglected her) and on into her unpredictably happy, successful adulthood—a success psychologists say is due to an inborn temperamental gift that we might call charisma. Pursuing this and many other studies (but without sourcing them), Gallagher brings out a particularly interesting point: that research has found nature and nurture to be linked in a two-way relationship. For instance, experience can actually change neurotransmitter patterns in the brain; conversely, our inborn temperament can influence what kinds of experiences we have. But Gallagher lacks a strong framework or point of view; she roams all over the psychological map, from memory to the unconscious to the artistic temperament. Too often, she gives an on-the-one-hand/on-the-other summary of the facts that leads to no conclusion other than the fairly useless one often repeated to her by researchers: We still don't know how much our genes and our environment contribute respectively to our selves. Further, she relies heavily on models that measure temperament on a range of axes, such as extroversion and agreeableness. But while Gallagher protests how complex personality is, this theory sounds like a simplistic building-block approach: Mr. X may have a large dose of extroversion, a touch of irritability, etc. Researchers recently announced the identification of a gene they say influences temperament. Only the future will tell us what Gallagher unfortunately can't.