re: But PTSD isn't real.

Flame » in reply to But PTSD isn't real.

re: But PTSD isn't real.

Jerry Lembcke — 5/31/2008 5:37:32 PM (archived)

I've never written or said that PTSD is a myth or not real. I have written that PTSD, the diagnostic category, is a social construction--which is to say, not that it is not real, but that it has a different reality than that ascribed to it by positivist social/psychological science.
I've also written in "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam" (NYU Press, 1998) that while the cononization of PTSD in DSMIII brought valuable resources on lline for Vietnam veterans, its more important functions were cultural and political, helping to discredit the voice of anti-war veterans and disparage the anti-war movement.

Jerry Lembcke
Associate Professor
Department of Sociology
Holy Cross College
Worcester, MA 01610

The whole thread (112 posts)

Garrison Keillor gets ripped a new one - TB - 5/30/2008 4:16:12 AM
- I wonder what he would think of an Irish wake? (n/t) - Jody - 6/2/2008 11:10:21 PM
- Amazing! - alcaray - 5/30/2008 10:25:00 PM
  - Hmm... - RobVG - 6/2/2008 2:34:36 PM
    - How noisy would the priders be? (n/t) - alcaray - 6/2/2008 6:36:23 PM
    - "Which group would see the most tolerance?" - ARRELL - 6/2/2008 3:58:39 PM
- What did Keillor say? Your link doesn't go there. - Eri - 5/30/2008 10:06:22 PM
  - Link under "Whoops!" below. (n/t) - TB - 5/30/2008 10:26:43 PM
- Once again, TB, you've done your part to heal our divisions and bring us together as a nation. (n/t) - ER - 5/30/2008 7:37:16 PM
- Garrison Keillor is right. - ER - 5/30/2008 1:01:20 PM
  - re: Garrison Keillor - TB - 5/30/2008 5:50:23 PM
    - There you do, generalizing again. - Eri - 5/30/2008 10:09:55 PM
    - Musings on memorial day - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 7:07:03 PM
      - More- Keillor's memorial day broadcast - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 8:38:56 PM
        
        re: Keillor's memorial day broadcast - TB - 5/30/2008 9:27:05 PM
        
        Keillor didn't say anything not true. - Eri - 5/30/2008 10:17:52 PM
        
        There is a reason TB didn't address the truth, he just parroted the spin - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 11:45:50 PM
        
        Pathetic TB - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 9:52:40 PM
    - veterans - Robert - 5/30/2008 6:54:21 PM
      - re: veterans - TB - 5/30/2008 8:43:30 PM
        
        Lies, damned lies, and statistics - Robert - 5/30/2008 9:43:17 PM
        
        Ah. The "not increasing as fast as we think it should be" cut. A classic. - TB - 5/30/2008 11:19:14 PM
        
        Try to hold on to a little perspective - Robert - 5/31/2008 2:49:59 AM
        
        The budget has almost doubled since 2001 - Lee - 5/31/2008 3:04:51 AM
        
        THANKS FOR PLAYING - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 8:35:19 PM
        
        So $86 billion isn't enough, but $87 billion is? - Lee - 5/31/2008 8:58:04 PM
        
        You have serious reading comprehension issues, don't you... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 9:03:39 PM
        
        "Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short" - Lee - 5/31/2008 9:19:22 PM
        
        :) by all means, keep playing- anyone reading this entire thread will learn a lot about you - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 9:29:38 PM
        
        This administration believes all sorts of nonsense. - Lee - 5/31/2008 10:06:37 PM
        
        " This administration believes all sorts of nonsense."- yup, like WMD are a slam dunk... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 10:32:16 PM
        
        That's the difference. - Lee - 5/31/2008 11:52:17 PM
        
        re: Try to hold on to the facts - TB - 5/31/2008 3:01:42 AM
        
        From the other post you ignored... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 12:07:18 AM
        
        But PTSD isn't real. - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:28:16 AM
        
        re: But PTSD isn't real. - Jerry Lembcke - 5/31/2008 5:37:32 PM
        
        Thanks! - TB - 6/1/2008 1:12:30 AM
        
        Social Constructions - SDAI-Tech1 - 5/31/2008 8:41:09 PM
        
        A different reality...oh ok, that clears it up. - Lee - 5/31/2008 7:54:04 PM
        
        You didn't even live up to my low expectations.... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 8:03:42 PM
        
        What's to discredit? - Lee - 5/31/2008 8:19:32 PM
        
        Again, you are inventing what he said and then quoting him as saying what you made up! - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 8:32:19 PM
        
        What he said is meaningless. - Lee - 5/31/2008 8:48:57 PM
        
        It's only meaningless if you dont have the reading skills to comprehend it... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 9:01:51 PM
        
        You're an apologist. - Lee - 5/31/2008 9:13:52 PM
        
        You're an idiot.... - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 9:24:38 PM
        
        PTSD and TBI - Robert - 5/31/2008 7:19:57 PM
        
        re: PTSD and TBI - TB - 6/1/2008 1:11:25 AM
        
        minor typo - Robert - 5/31/2008 7:21:31 PM
        
        Thank you for your clarification - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 5:50:50 PM
        
        re: But PTSD isn't real. (n/t) - Jerry Lembcke - 5/31/2008 5:29:09 PM
        
        Having trouble keeping track of the thread, Banjo Boy? - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 2:41:59 AM
        
        I prefer a steel guitar. (n/t) - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:46:23 AM
        
        Huh, So he did. - TB - 5/31/2008 2:41:22 AM
        
        Want to know why I ignored it? - TB - 5/31/2008 2:18:57 AM
        
        :) nice try - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 2:38:15 AM
        
        No. - TB - 5/31/2008 2:53:16 AM
        
        More facts for you to ignore... Looks like Robert S. was right - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 3:44:06 AM
        
        Ignore? Actually... - TB - 5/31/2008 4:36:38 AM
        
        Soooo..... what deserves your outrage more....? - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 5:03:28 AM
        
        Why is it mutually exclusive? - TB - 5/31/2008 5:32:03 AM
        
        Groan... Someone else want to take a crack at explaining to TB what he just did? - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 6:22:47 AM
      - "the dispiriting lie" - ER - 5/30/2008 7:16:52 PM
      - That reporter is wrong. - Lee - 5/30/2008 7:03:42 PM
        
        Prove it - Robert - 5/30/2008 9:53:49 PM
        
        For the record. - Lee - 5/31/2008 12:07:57 AM
        
        You wish - Robert - 5/31/2008 1:47:00 AM
        
        re: You wish - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:01:40 AM
        
        re: You wish - Robert - 5/31/2008 2:44:42 AM
        
        My own research on this - Yeti - 5/31/2008 3:26:11 AM
        
        I'm okay with planting the goalposts at that point. (n/t) - TB - 5/31/2008 3:35:23 AM
        
        What I hope or don't hope doesn't matter. - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:57:55 AM
        
        Where do you get off... - Lee - 5/30/2008 11:30:04 PM
        
        Oh gee, I dunno... - Robert - 5/30/2008 11:52:34 PM
        
        Not a lie. - TB - 5/31/2008 2:09:24 AM
        
        But not the truth, either - Robert - 5/31/2008 7:00:26 PM
        
        Remember "perspective?" - TB - 6/1/2008 1:28:21 AM
        
        Less civil? - Lee - 5/31/2008 8:13:31 PM
        
        And it's not just about spit - TB - 5/31/2008 2:31:47 AM
        
        The site that is from has a vietnam veteran's story where he specifically says "I never had anyone spit on me upon my return from Vietnam."- any particular reason you didnt mention that fact? (n/t) - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 2:58:13 AM
        
        Well, if he didn't get spat on, that proves nobody did. - TB - 5/31/2008 3:03:18 AM
        
        The rest of the quote - TB - 5/31/2008 3:15:01 AM
        
        You backtracked that photo? - TB - 5/31/2008 3:04:40 AM
        
        Wasn't too hard, I just correctly assumed there was a dishonest reason as to why you didn't give the source.... (n/t) - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 3:08:46 AM
        
        You're starting to get a bit weird. - TB - 5/31/2008 3:32:52 AM
        
        WEIRD? This thread PROVES that it is YOU that wants to INSIST on portraying veterans as victims! - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 6:52:59 PM
        
        And you want vindication of your side by ignoring an ugly truth. - Lee - 5/31/2008 12:10:39 AM
        
        "The Left is pure and good..." - Robert - 5/31/2008 1:41:04 AM
        
        It is true. - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:08:08 AM
        
        Yeah, Robert!!! His uncles could be decent human beings, nothing like Lee at all.... (n/t) - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 11:32:31 PM
        
        This is Flame - Lee - 5/30/2008 11:34:41 PM
        
        Or, we could apply lee's bigoted reasoning and assume since he is such a sorry excuse for a human being.... - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 11:42:49 PM
        
        That's all you have. - Lee - 5/31/2008 12:21:16 AM
        
        This is Flame - Robert - 5/30/2008 11:54:47 PM
        
        LOL I am done - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 12:04:15 AM
        
        Yeah, but did you have to call them "a monkey's uncles"? (n/t) - Robert - 5/31/2008 1:22:15 AM
        
        I would NEVER insult monkies in that way!! - ARRELL - 5/31/2008 2:00:38 AM
        
        So you keep saying. (n/t) - Lee - 5/31/2008 2:14:38 AM
    - re: Garrison Keillor - ER - 5/30/2008 6:34:43 PM
      - You obviously dont understand veterans as well as TB does.... - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 6:41:21 PM
    - What a pile of slanderous crap... - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 6:14:50 PM
  - ER - RNE - 5/30/2008 5:39:09 PM
    - re: RNE - ER - 5/30/2008 6:25:36 PM
- Er...did your links lead to the intended destinations? (n/t) - McFly - 5/30/2008 5:32:32 AM
  - Whoops! Thanks! - TB - 5/30/2008 6:18:07 AM
    - You want to express patriotic outrage? How about trying an issue that really matters... - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 5:44:08 PM
      - right on - Robert - 5/30/2008 6:59:46 PM
    - What is so offensive in what he says? - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 4:58:38 PM
      - You mean like anti-war protests? - Lee - 5/30/2008 7:14:41 PM
        
        Plenty of veterans at anti-war protests.... - ARRELL - 5/30/2008 7:31:59 PM
    - "...at least somebody actually clicks on them!" - ER - 5/30/2008 1:41:21 PM
- He's so far ahead in that department he'll never be caught. (n/t) - Bowser - 5/30/2008 4:21:44 AM

Recent posts

On this day in Flame

The whole thread (112 posts)