R136: Experiencing Trauma and War

Through the writings of a journalist and four therapists, this Reading Course examines how therapists can help people who, every day of their lives, witness the worst that human beings can see. Journalist Cecilia Capuzzi Simon takes readers right into the brutality of the Iraq War and asks whether all our techniques aren’t missing something when it comes to helping traumatized vets cross the vast chasm dividing war from peace, soldier from citizen. James Gordon, a psychiatrist who’s worked in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Israel, leads a mental-healthcare team into war-ravaged Gaza to introduce Western style mind-body healing approaches in a culture far different from our own. Nancy Errebo describes her use of EMDR to help a troubled, young, Iraq war vet and his wife emerge from the nightmare of battlefield experience. Don Ferguson examines the challenges of helping traumatized Iraq vets and their wives salvage troubled marriages.

Course Readings

Bringing the War Home: The Challenge of Helping Iraq War Vets by Cecilia Capuzzi Simon

Creating a Culture of Healing: Recovering from Trauma in War-Ravaged Gaza by James Gordon

Like a Ghost: Using EMDR to Revive a Traumatized Vet’s Marriage by Nancy Errebo

Suddenly Strangers: Iraq War Vets, and the Challenge of Relationship by Don Ferguson

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the trauma symptoms present in Iraq war veterans.
2. Discuss effective interventions for working with Iraq war vets.
3. Describe how working on the front lines in war-torn countries can create healing.
4. Discuss the effects of veterans’ trauma on marriage.