DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

The Science and Controversy of Traumatic Memory

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Malady or Myth?
By Chris R. Brewin. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. xii + 271 pp. Cloth, $37.50.

Few syndromes in psychiatry have stimulated as much research or as much debate as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has. Ever since its formal recognition as a psychiatric illness nearly 25 years ago, PTSD has been the flashpoint for numerous controversies (McNally, 2003a). Its inclusion in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM—III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) was attributable chiefly to the lobbying efforts of psychiatrists opposed to the war in Vietnam (Scott, 1990). These doctors argued that the moral ambiguity of fighting a protracted, politically controversial counterinsurgency war posed unique stressors for the men who fought it. Unlike previous wars, the one in Vietnam was allegedly unique in producing chronic forms of stress-related psychiatric illness that were not captured by extant diagnostic categories. Moreover, although there were very few psychiatric casualties in Vietnam itself (Dean, 1997, p. 40), advocates for the new diagnosis claimed that the psychiatric consequences of Vietnam often emerged long after the soldier returned to civilian life. Accordingly, they argued, a new diagnosis——post-Vietnam syndrome—must be included in the DSM to accommodate the often-delayed and often chronic stress syndrome arising from the war.