Thursday, August 14, 2008

What the Ancient Greeks Have To Teach Us About Post Traumatic Stress Disorder


A fascinating story from Yahoo! News, about the relevance of the works of Sophocles and other Greek tragedians to today's world, specifically the psychic wounds of war and post traumatic stress disorder. Read Greek Tragedies Offer Modern Lessons on War's Pain.

The epic poet Homer (composer of the Iliad and Odyssey) also has some wisdom about combat stress. Listen to MacArthur fellowship winner, Dr. Jonathan Shay, of the Department of Veteran's Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston, relate the Odyssey to today's OIF (Iraq) veterans on a 2007 NPR radiocast.

Image of Odysseus returning to Penelope courtesy of the Vroma Image Archive