This bibliography collects and summarizes published observations, research findings, opinions, and conclusions of mental health professionals, social scientists, and other trained observers regarding the effects of the Vietnam War on those Americans who fought in it. The 851 citations span the years from 1965, when large numbers of U.S. combat troops were first committed in Vietnam, through 1987.
The authors have included primarily psychiatric, social, and behavioral science publications. These are augmented with personal narratives of those who served, descriptions by and reactions of war correspondents, and historical reviews of the war and the period, including observations and analyses of the war's effect on the combat soldier. Although selections were limited to materials in generally accessible sources--periodicals, journals, books, monographs, and government reports--articles from the popular press were included if they were written by behavioral science professionals or firsthand observations from Vietnam of an especially insightful nature. The volume is arranged topically and is divided into three major parts: service in Vietnam, veteran adaptation, and social and institutional context. Of particular value are the abstracts that succinctly highlight each publication's critical findings, observations, and opinions. From these, the reader can easily survey the psychosocial impact of the war through the panorama of professional study and interpretation. Besides being of interest to behavioral science researchers and military historians, this unique guide to the psychosocial impact of the Vietnam War will be welcomed by medical, psychiatric, and social service workers who deal with veterans as well as the military planners, administrators, and policy makers who determine their fate. In fact, anyone interested in the repercussions of the Vietnam War will find Stress, Strain, and Vietnam a valuable reference and digest.
About the Author: NORMAN M. CAMP, M.D., is a recently retired U.S. Army Colonel who served in Vietnam as an army psychiatrist. He has joined the Faculty of the Medical College of Virginia as Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. His articles have appeared in numerous periodicals and he is the author with C.M. Carney of the forthcomig Painful Memories and Crushing Burdens: U.S. Army Psychiatrists in the Vietam War (Greenwood Press).
ROBERT H. STRETCH is a Research Psychologist and a Major in the U.S. Army Medical Sevice Corps. He is currently Scientific Liaison officer for the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command at the Defense and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine, Toronto. He has been researching the psychosocial adjustment of Vietnam veterans for the past nine years.
WILLIAM C. MARSHALL is a consultant to a program for the mentally retarded in Maryland. He received his M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Western Michigan University and was research assistant to Dr. Camp at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
