PTSD:Exploring Their Private Wars

Exploring Their Private Wars
Posted: 10/13/11
Brigid Brett
Writer

In December 2006 Lori Holyfield heard a soldier being interviewed on National Public Radio. He'd been shamed by his commanding officer and his unit after self-disclosing he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She listened as other soldiers talked about being discharged for "personality disorders" or "patterns of misconduct" -- instead of being treated for the obvious symptoms of their war trauma.

She was stunned as she realized the depth of emotional pain and humiliation these soldiers must have felt.

"I feared for those young men, worried they would be condemned to a private war of emotional pain. How might it affect their families?"

The daughter of a Korean War veteran, Holyfield is familiar with that kind of 'private war.' "We all knew that my father had a wounded heart, and like so many families of veterans, we lived with the demons that accompanied him home from a war that had no name."

Not long after that radio interview, Holyfield -- an associate professor of sociology at the University of Arkansas -- partnered with the Library of Congress, and the Veterans Oral History project was born, which in turn propelled her to write Veterans' Journey Home.
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