When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home

by Caplan, Paula J.

• ISBN13: 9780262015547
• ISBN10: 0262015544
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-03-04
• Publisher: Mit Pr

Summary

Traumatized veterans returning from our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are often diagnosed as suffering from a psychological disorder and prescribed a regimen of psychotherapy and psychiatric drugs. But why, asks psychologist Paula J. Caplan in this impassioned book, is it a mental illness to be devastated by war? What is a mentally healthy response to death, destruction, and moral horror? In When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home, Caplan argues that the standard treatment of therapy and drugs is often actually harmful. It adds to veterans burdens by making them believe wrongly that they have gotten over it; it isolates them behind the closed doors of the therapists office; and it makes them rely on often harmful drugs. The numbers of traumatized veterans from past and present wars who continue to suffer demonstrate the ineffectiveness of this approach. Sending anguished veterans off to talk to therapists, writes Caplan, conveys the message that the rest of us don't want to listen-or that we don't feel qualified to listen. As a result, the truth about war is kept under wraps. Most of us remain ignorant about what war is really like-and continue to allow our governments to go to war without much protest. Caplan proposes an alternative: that we welcome veterans back into our communities and listen to their stories, one-on-one. (She provides guidelines for conducting these conversations.) This would begin a long overdue national discussion about the realities of war, and it would start the healing process for our returning veterans.

Table of Contents

Note to the Reader	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Prologue	p. xv
When Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: The Problem	p. 1
Being a Veteran	p. 23
There's Only So Much Emotional Carnage of War That Therapists Can Fix	p. 69
The Wrong Responses Begin: What the Military Is Doing While Johnny and Jane Are Over There … and Why It's Not Enough	p. 111
What the VA Is Doing Once Johnny and Jane Are Home … and Why It's Not Enough	p. 145
What Every Citizen Can Do to Help	p. 165
This Matters Desperately	p. 209
Afterword	p. 221
Notes	p. 227
References
Index	p. 273
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