The grief of soldiers: Vietnam combat veterans' self-help movement.

The symptoms reported by veterans, and their efforts in launching a self-help movement of group sessions and other activities, outside the auspices of a Veterans Administration that they find unresponsive to their needs are described.

Abstract

While the government has claimed few “psychiatric casualties” among Vietnam war veterans, most symptoms are delayed in onset, due to emotional anesthesia brought on by a combination of combat trauma and the military's counter-guerrilla training, which discourages grief and intimacy. This paper describes the symptoms reported by veterans, and their efforts in launching a self-help movement of group sessions and other activities, outside the auspices of a Veterans Administration that they find unresponsive to their needs. The involvement in the veterans' movement of mental health professionals is described, and the inadequacy of the traditional therapist-patient relationship is discussed.