Military Illness

Our August speaker was Diane Cameron, whose topic was “Mental Illness Within the Military Experience.” Diane is best known to many of us as a regular columnist in recent years for the Albany Times-Union. She currently has a column in the Altamont Enterprise, is Executive Director of Community Care Givers in Altamont, and is working on a book about the subject of her talk.

Diane began with the words, “My mother married a murderer.” This was not over-dramatizing. We were told the story of Donald, a former marine, who had served in China in the late 1930s. World War II had already begun there, with Japan’s invasion; the marines were there to protect U.S. citizens and interests, and to try to restrain the Japanese short of war. Donald witnessed unspeakable atrocities. The horrors have been documented in Iris Chang’s book, The Rape Of Nanking. (Comment by FR: so awful was this subject matter that it was probably a contributory factor in Iris Chang’s suicide.)

Donald came home and proceeded to live a normal life (or so it seemed) – until the day when he shot his mother-in-law dead in his kitchen, and then killed his wife too when she arrived home. He then telephoned the sheriff.

Fast forward many years, and Diane’s mother encounters octogenarian Donald – released from Farview Hospital – in a diner. They fall in love and marry. Donald had first revealed to Diane’s mom his interesting history. It was a bit of a shock when mom put her adult children in the picture about it. But the marriage was evidently a success. At least it did not end as Donald’s first marriage had.

This personal story served as background for Diane’s discussion of the psychic trauma experienced by soldiers in war. Old verbiage for this included “shell shock,” “battle fatigue,” and even “lacking moral fiber.” The Vietnam War brought us the term “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (PTSD), a phenomenon not limited to the military context. In past decades, many sufferers were institutionalized; but the 1970s saw the advent of Thorazine, a drug that could control the symptoms (although it entailed weird behavioral side-effects), which made it seemingly feasible to “de-institutionalize” patients and let them live outside hospitals. Donald was one of them.

This brought Diane to Dr. Thomas Szasz, a controversial writer on the subject of psychiatry, most famed for his book, The Myth of Mental Illness. Diane interviewed him, as Szasz had been involved in Donald’s case, and the decision to release him. It was Szasz’s position, consistent with his book, that Donald had not been mentally ill. Szasz holds that “mental illness” is a metaphor rather than, actually, a medical condition. He draws a parallel between psychiatry and religion: we all want someone to take care of us, but the result is that we are controlled, whether by religion, or by government through psychiatry. According to Szasz, the concept of mental illness undermines that of personal responsibility.

Explaining further, Diane, reflecting Szasz, observed that all people imagine the crimes that Donald actually committed, the murder of close family members. We don’t imagine killing strangers. Because of this, killings like Donald’s violate a special taboo and are especially disturbing to us. That is why we label such acts “insane” – to distance ourselves from them -- from the impulses we all have but don’t want to think too hard about. In Szasz’s view, the difference between normal people and schizophrenics or otherwise “mentally ill” people like Donald is that the former don’t allow themselves to cross a line between imaginings and actions; but the latter do cross that line; and, as Szasz sees it, that represents a choice, a decision. Thus he argues that, whatever may be true about the mental states of such people, because they have made a volitional decision, they deserve to be punished for their acts.

Diane concluded her talk by noting the obvious fact that, just as in past wars, soldiers are coming home from Iraq traumatized by the violence of their experiences. We, as a society, are still struggling with how to handle this problem. Our August speaker was Diane Cameron, whose topic was “Mental Illness Within the Military Experience.” Diane is best known to many of us as a regular columnist in recent years for the Albany Times-Union. She currently has a column in the Altamont Enterprise, is Executive Director of Community Care Givers in Altamont, and is working on a book about the subject of her talk.

Diane began with the words, “My mother married a murderer.” This was not over-dramatizing. We were told the story of Donald, a former marine, who had served in China in the late 1930s. World War II had already begun there, with Japan’s invasion; the marines were there to protect U.S. citizens and interests, and to try to restrain the Japanese short of war. Donald witnessed unspeakable atrocities. The horrors have been documented in Iris Chang’s book, The Rape Of Nanking. (Comment by FR: so awful was this subject matter that it was probably a contributory factor in Iris Chang’s suicide.)

Donald came home and proceeded to live a normal life (or so it seemed) – until the day when he shot his mother-in-law dead in his kitchen, and then killed his wife too when she arrived home. He then telephoned the sheriff.

Fast forward many years, and Diane’s mother encounters octogenarian Donald – released from Farview Hospital – in a diner. They fall in love and marry. Donald had first revealed to Diane’s mom his interesting history. It was a bit of a shock when mom put her adult children in the picture about it. But the marriage was evidently a success. At least it did not end as Donald’s first marriage had.

This personal story served as background for Diane’s discussion of the psychic trauma experienced by soldiers in war. Old verbiage for this included “shell shock,” “battle fatigue,” and even “lacking moral fiber.” The Vietnam War brought us the term “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” (PTSD), a phenomenon not limited to the military context. In past decades, many sufferers were institutionalized; but the 1970s saw the advent of Thorazine, a drug that could control the symptoms (although it entailed weird behavioral side-effects), which made it seemingly feasible to “de-institutionalize” patients and let them live outside hospitals. Donald was one of them.

This brought Diane to Dr. Thomas Szasz, a controversial writer on the subject of psychiatry, most famed for his book, The Myth of Mental Illness. Diane interviewed him, as Szasz had been involved in Donald’s case, and the decision to release him. It was Szasz’s position, consistent with his book, that Donald had not been mentally ill. Szasz holds that “mental illness” is a metaphor rather than, actually, a medical condition. He draws a parallel between psychiatry and religion: we all want someone to take care of us, but the result is that we are controlled, whether by religion, or by government through psychiatry. According to Szasz, the concept of mental illness undermines that of personal responsibility.

Explaining further, Diane, reflecting Szasz, observed that all people imagine the crimes that Donald actually committed, the murder of close family members. We don’t imagine killing strangers. Because of this, killings like Donald’s violate a special taboo and are especially disturbing to us. That is why we label such acts “insane” – to distance ourselves from them -- from the impulses we all have but don’t want to think too hard about. In Szasz’s view, the difference between normal people and schizophrenics or otherwise “mentally ill” people like Donald is that the former don’t allow themselves to cross a line between imaginings and actions; but the latter do cross that line; and, as Szasz sees it, that represents a choice, a decision. Thus he argues that, whatever may be true about the mental states of such people, because they have made a volitional decision, they deserve to be punished for their acts.

Diane concluded her talk by noting the obvious fact that, just as in past wars, soldiers are coming home from Iraq traumatized by the violence of their experiences. We, as a society, are still struggling with how to handle this problem.

Mental Illness and the US Military