Jonathan Shay was born on 1941 and is an American doctor and clinical psychiatrist.
13 Facts About Jonathan Shay
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Jonathan Shay is best known for his publications comparing the experiences of Vietnam veterans with the descriptions of war and homecoming in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
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In 1987, Jonathan Shay shifted from neuropathology to the study of posttraumatic stress disorder and published a short article linking the combat histories of patients at the VA with the experience of war described in Homer's Iliad.
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Jonathan Shay was then approached by classics professor Gregory Nagy who suggested that the topic might be expanded into a full-length book on the nature and treatment of PTSD.
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Jonathan Shay has written two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, which discuss PTSD by reference to the experiences of American veterans of the Vietnam War, and the experiences depicted in the Iliad and the Odyssey.
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Jonathan Shay has done research on the use of Prozac in treating PTSD in Vietnam veterans.
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Jonathan Shay argues that PTSD is not an illness but the persistence of adaptive behaviors needed to survive in a stressful environment.
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Jonathan Shay recommends that we resocialize trauma survivors as a means of promoting socially acceptable behavior patterns.
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Jonathan Shay cites classical Greek theater and the collective mourning described in the Iliad as possible precedents.
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Jonathan Shay is a passionate advocate of improved mental health treatment for soldiers and of more vigorous efforts to prevent PTSD, in addition to structural reform of the ways the US armed forces are organized, trained, and counseled.
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Jonathan Shay has collaborated with General James Jones, the past commandant of the Marines, and Major General James Mattis of the Marines.
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Jonathan Shay has promoted the concept of preventative psychiatry in support of military cohesion, leadership and training:.
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Jonathan Shay introduced the concept of "Moral injury" and recommended treatment strategies for it in his two books.