Kalani Leifer
February 1, 2006
Who are the sources that she introduces?
What is the purpose of each source?
What kind of questions do you imagine elicited the tape that Spiegel got?
Smith in grad school—how did she get him to go there? What type of questions?
WHO?
WHAT?
WHERE?
WHEN?
WHY?
HOW?
Host: sensationalized intro, plus some statistics… a few men take on the world…
Gulf Vet Kevin Knight… his experience in the Gulf… he illustrates the image of the
baby’s foot in the tennis shoe. His purpose is to give a human, recent face to PTSD. A
psychologist diagnoses him with the disorder.
Also, it is important that he is NOT a Vietnam vet, because it underscores the universality
of PTSD… it’s not just a Vietnam phenomenon.
The image of the baby’s foot is also exceptionally emotionally charged. We can certainly
imagine that had we seen this image, we’d have a similar reaction to Knight.
Kevin Knight is and IGNITER => elicits story
Jack Smith, a parallel Vietnam vet, who got no sympathy when he returned. His purpose
is to give voice from the pioneering ptsd group.
Jack Smith acts as a bridge between the history, yet he also parallels Knight. He is the
HUMAN voice of the story. He gives a sense of personal anger through his voice.
Dramatizes the fight in his voice. a PARTICPANT.
Lifton and Shatton… famed psychologists who attend the second meeting. Lifton gives
credibility to the debate. We accept his words as truth because of his credentials. He is
also a participant, but one who validates the story because he is a professional. EXPERT.
Post Vietnam Syndrome.
Art Blank… psychologist working at a VA in the early seventies. He’d heard collegues
say that post Vietnam syndrome would bankrupt the us gov’t. He says that many
Vietnam vets were misdiagnosed… led to sad consequences. Blank corroborates the
controversy and fight, from outside Smith’s story.
Paul kirshoff… talked about by jack smith, he commits suicide by driving his car into a
truck head on.
Smith and his friends take the VA director hostage. They didn’t want to hurt him, just
wanted to give him an education.
VA director came to Smith’s defense later.
OK U prof Wilbur Scott says getting the label into the psychiatric manual was a genious
move. Explains the significance. A view from today… not involved in the struggle. He
is an objective observer with no vested interest.
“you are not responsible for the federal gov’t”
DATA… post Vietnam syndrome becomes post traumatic syndrome.
1980 manual: POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.
Spitzer = psychiatric manual director
VA could not longer ignore the disorder
Jack Smith tried to go get a PhD, the director told him he could either run rats, or go on
his way. He said that Jack had hoodwinked the gov’t… ptsd not a real thing.
PTSD is often misused… but for people like Gulf Vet Knight, it has been a lifesaver.
The real key comments seem to have been elicited by HOW questions, rather than WHY
questions. HOW did the disorder go from a secret to a prominent disorder in the psych
manual.
Describe how this happened…
How did this start…
What obstacles did you face?
Who what where when…
Sources of motivation.
The feeling will usually come out.