Coping with "Shell Shock"

Ever since he began running some of the earliest Vietnam vet support groups in the seventies, psychiatrist Matthew Friedman '61 has worked to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. His research includes a study, conducted with fellow Dartmouth Medical School researchers Stanley Rosenberg and Paula Schnurr, of Dartmouth graduates who went to Vietnam.

So far, Friedman says, no one is sure why only some people experience PTSD after a trauma. While pursuing the answer, Friedman has helped bring the disorder to national attention. He chaired a congressionally mandated national committee on PTSD and wrote a proposal that established the Veteran's Administration Hospital in White River Junction as the site of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As the center's executive director, Friedman coordinates PTSD studies, trains medical workers, and establishes programs to help PTSD sufferers from California earth-quake victims to Persian Gulf soldiers and their families.

Vietnam trauma helps usunderstand other shock.