February 6, 1995 Contact: Barbara McKenna (408/459-2495)

TALK COMPARES COMBAT TRAUMA IN VIETNAM VETERANS AND CHARACTERS IN ANCIENT GREEK TALE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--The term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a relatively new way of describing the psychological aftershocks of a trauma but the psychosis itself is nothing new, according to Boston psychiatrist John Shay. Shay, who treats Vietnam veterans, says that the condition was documented millennia earlier in Homer's Iliad--the ancient Greek epic poem that narrates the story of the Trojan War.

Shay will present a talk on the subject, titled "Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character," at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 14, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in College Eight, Room 201.

The author of Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (New York: Atheneum and Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994), Shay is a psychiatrist for the Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic in Boston and a member of the faculty at Tufts Medical School. He has done extensive research on the symptoms and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam veterans.

Shay will explain similarities he has observed between the experiences and emotional reactions of Vietnam vets and those of the soldiers in Homer's Iliad. In his talk, he will focus on the story of the warrior Achilles, who is distracted from the war by the betrayal of his commander and the death of a number of close friends. The grief, guilt, and numbness Achilles feels is followed by frenzied rage--a pattern Shay says is frequently experienced by the veterans with whom he works.

Shay is a leading scholar in the study of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Vietnam veterans. His book is considered to be groundbreaking in its detailed exploration of how combat trauma can have a lasting and catastrophic effect on the lives of Vietnam veterans.

For more information, call (408) 459-2696.

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