Abstract: We do not always survive trauma. Elie Wiesel said of Primo Levi, a holocaust survivor who committed suicide at age sixty-seven, “[he] died at Auschwitz forty years earlier.” Though Levi physically survived the holocaust, psychically he did not. And yet, there are countless stories of incredible triumph over trauma. What makes survival possible? What seems to separate those who recover from those who do not—at least in part—is the capacity and opportunity for adaptation. Adaptation is the phenomenon whereby the subject is able to make use of one or more coping mechanisms in order to adjust to traumatic disruption. In this paper I argue that narrative is an especially useful tool for adapting to trauma because it addresses that which is so disruptive about trauma: the inability to process the traumatic event.

VIEW TRAUMA, EMBODIMENT, AND NARRATIVE

Abstract: Coined by Jonathan Shay, a clinician who works with combat veterans, the term ‘moral injury’ refers to an injury that occurs when one’s moral beliefs are betrayed. Shay developed the term to capture the shame and guilt of veterans he saw in his clinical practice. Since then, debates about moral injury have centered around the ‘what’ (what kinds of actions count as morally injurious and why?) and the ‘who’ of moral injury (should moral injuries be restricted to the guilt and shame that I feel for what I do? Or is it possible to be morally injured by what I witness?). Clinicians universally acknowledge the challenge of treating moral injuries. I will argue that this is in part because there is an essential piece of the theoretical construct that has been left behind. Namely, when veterans are morally injured, they are not only haunted by what they have done (or failed to do) but also by the specter of a world without morals. 

VIEW HAUNTED BY A DIFFERENT GHOST: RETHINKING MORAL INJURY

Abstract: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among combat veterans remains an urgent and intractable problem for those who have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In this paper, we argue that one of the reasons that combat related PTSD remains so difficult to treat is because psychologists – and American culture at large – do not fully understand it yet. It is our contention that there are two contributing factors that currently hinder our ability to successfully treat combat related PTSD. The first is a failure to look critically at the theoretical underpinnings that ground our current understanding of the disorder. The second related issue is our tendency to look to reductionist explanations and treatments. We use the theoretical framework of phenomenology alongside a case study of a man we call James in order to present this argument.

VIEW MISSION COMPLETION, TROOP WARFARE & A DESTRUCTIVE IDEALISM

Abstract: The cluster of symptoms now called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had its beginning in “hysteria,” a syndrome that affected only women. This paper explores the way that the perniciously essentialist beginnings of trauma research have bled into our understanding and treatment of trauma today. I use the work of Sandra Lee Bartky, who argues that psychological fragmentation forms the basis of the oppression of women, to show the way that the psychological landscape has been shaped in parallel ways for the traumatized veteran. Understanding trauma in nongendered ways illustrates that the trauma response is an adaptive mechanism born of resilience.

VIEW HYSTERICAL GIRLS: COMBAT TRAUMA AS A FEMINIST ISSUE

Abstract: The data accounting for the difficulties many OIF and OEF veterans experience upon reintegration into civilian society have been thoroughly documented over the last fifteen years. Among these difficulties, some veterans experience antisocial, self-injurious, and violent tendencies upon returning to civilian life. In this research project, 220 veterans were completed self-report surveys pertaining to their transition from military life to a civilian career. Some of the participants’ responses revealed that there was a significant emotional and motivational dimension to the formation of otherwise aggressive and self-destructive tendencies activated upon leaving their military careers and culture. The term combat excitement was coined to articulate participants’ anticipation of enemy contact while deployed. This study demonstrates that high levels of combat excitement correlated with lower life satisfaction and lower civilian solidarity for participants in their civilian lives after leaving an active duty setting. Furthermore, civilians solidarity had a strong positive correlation with life satisfaction for participants. Ultimately, this study looks at how significant strong civilian relationships are vital to the health and life satisfaction of veterans as they leave active duty, as well as how combat excitement can weaken the tendency of veterans to have strong civilian relationships after service.

VIEW EXAMINING THE EFFECT OF COMBAT EXCITEMENT & DIMINISHED CIVILIAN SOLIDARITY ...

Abstract: This paper is motivated (as most are) by a series of questions. How can we begin to understand how the body, thought, and action are related? Is bodied human behavior always mediated by the conscious mind? Is action a way for thoughts to play out? Is this best answered by neuroscience? Psychology? Or philosophy? In this paper, I use the paradigm of combat trauma to explore the issue of the dynamic unity of body, thought and action. Using Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology we can better understand both this relationship between body, thought, and action as well as the phenomenon of trauma.

VIEW A PRISMATIC ACCOUNT: BODY, THOUGHT, ACTION IN TRAUMA

Abstract: While many veterans face physical, psychological, and spiritual difficulties, research suggests that the reintegration process from military service to civilian life, is a complex one. Our study focused on the role of moral injury and the disclosure of military experience in this transition, and how they might combine to affect veterans’ life satisfaction. We gave a battery of surveys to a large and diverse sample of veterans, measuring aspects of military culture and service, the moral ramifications of military experiences and attitudes and experiences with disclosing these experiences to civilians. Most important, we found that greater moral injury was associated with greater concerns about disclosure. Greater disclosure concerns were associated with lower perceptions of disclosure support, which in turn was associated with lower life satisfaction. We conclude that these findings suggest that a more nuanced account is required to fully understand the relationship between moral injury, disclosure attitudes, and life satisfaction. For promoting healthy reintegration and greater satisfaction with life, and we discuss several possibilities for future research.

VIEW THE IMPACT OF MORAL INJURY AND THE DISCLOSURE OF MILITARY EXPERIENCES ON VETERANS

Abstract: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Maurice Merleau-Ponty are two philosophers who are not often brought together, and most certainly not on the topic of loss and honey. After all, Emerson died two decades before Merleau-Ponty was born. However, these gaps of time and topic are easily bridged, and doing so sheds light on each. Both philosophers talk about the human condition as it is mediated through our experience with the slippery and sticky external world. In this paper, I will look closely at two passages, one from Emerson and one from Merleau-Ponty. In each passage they discuss grasping and slipping away, both to illustrate a particular experience with the world and to underscore a part of the human condition.

VIEW HONEY, PLEASE: EMERSON & MERLEAU-PONTY ON THE HUMAN CONDITION

Abstract: In this research project, 25 veterans were interviewed and described their lived experience of transition from military life to a civilian career. The participants’ responses revealed that there was a significant emotional and motivational dimension to the formation of otherwise aggressive and self-destructive tendencies activated upon leaving their military careers and culture. The term combat excitement was coined to articulate participants’ anticipation of enemy contact while deployed. This study demonstrates that both the loss of combat excitement was at the epicenter of participants’ antisocial and self-injurious tendencies in their civilian lives after leaving an active-duty setting.

VIEW THE FORMATION OF ANTISOCIAL AND SELF-INJUROUS TENDENCIES IN VETERANS ...