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Letter to the Editor

By Thomas F. Barton

Columbia University Magazine
Winter 2013-2014 Letters

Thank you for publishing Michael Christman's "Shades of Green." [Combat, Marine Corps, Afghanistan]

His writing is a refreshing change: clear, direct, and without unnecessary words. This style is often found among those who have served under fire, where using four long words where one short word will do could be fatal.

Christman makes two points that merit full attention.

First, "Mental-health experts remind us that the most important thing for these guys to do is to take care of each other, that talking is the best form of therapy. They are right. Venting your anger, telling stories, taking a day or two off are all things that help."

Studies by the Veterans Administration and others confirm that talking is the best form of therapy. "Exposure therapy — reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it — is the only therapy proved effective by independent research," wrote Kelly Kennedy in a 2008 article in Army Times.

The bad news is that too often, returning service members experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress are not given that treatment. Instead of receiving the best form of therapy, they're handed multiple prescriptions for multiple drugs that do no good and can do harm.

Second, Christman writes, "It's great that we as a society recognize mental health as an important topic, but I worry that we may have swung too far and that the stigma of the veteran who 'loses it' is a burden that we all have to carry."

At a conference focused on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder held several years ago by the New York State Division of Veterans Affairs, a sergeant who had served under fire in Iraq spoke on a panel. Among other things, she said, "Don't you dare say that we have a disorder. We're having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation."

Most of us see the world as a relatively safe place. Few of us have been in a situation where there were opponents doing their best to kill us. For those who have, everything is changed forever. There is a chasm between those who have experienced that and those who have not.

It can be lonely. Understanding that loneliness, instead of distancing ourselves from it out of fear, may be helpful.

—Thomas F. Barton '77SW
New York, NY