The Evil Hours

A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

David J. Morris, David J. Morris

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780544086616
• eBook ISBN: 9780544084490
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Psychology

"An essential book" on PTSD, an all-too-common condition in both military veterans and civilians ( The New York Times Book Review).
 
Post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts as many as 30 percent of those who have experienced twenty-first-century combat—but it is not confined to soldiers. Countless ordinary Americans also suffer from PTSD, following incidences of abuse, crime, natural disasters, accidents, or other trauma—yet in many cases their symptoms are still shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame.
 
This "compulsively readable" study takes an in-depth look at the subject ( Los Angeles Times). Written by a war correspondent and former Marine with firsthand experience of this disorder, and drawing on interviews with individuals living with PTSD, it forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness. Using a rich blend of reporting and memoir, The Evil Hours is a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.
 

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

abysses of life, 31, 270

Adams, Oleta Kirk, 144–45

Afghanistan War, 69, 108–9, 123, 140, 164, 166, 168, 187, 239–40, 288 n

alcohol use, 174, 229, 237

alienation, 3–6, 11

alternative therapies: overview of, 239–41; CAPS and, 244; EMDR and, 244–46, 315 n; expectancy effect and, 240–41; fear response and, 242; “flow” and, 238, 263–64; haka and, 249–50; mantram repetition, 241–43; MMA, 241; postrape and, 235–39, 243–44; rituals and, 250–51; suffering and, 241; writing therapy and, 248–49; yoga and, 178, 235–39, 243–44

American Civil War veterans: criminal violence and, 87–88, 292 n; desertion and, 86–87, 292 n; dreams and, 119–20; government programs and, 86; hallucinations and, 118–19; literature and, 87; medical practices and, 83–87, 291 n; nightmares and, 119–20; psychiatry and, 83–87, 291 n; PTSD and, 81–89, 292; shame and, 86; suffering and, 82; technology transformations and, 81–82; travel and, 75, 290 n; visitations and, 61, 119, 288 n; vocabulary of trauma and, 84–86, 292 n

American Legion, 101, 147

American Psychiatric Association (APA), 154–56, 226

ancient era, 3, 9, 63, 66–77, 79–81, 127, 203, 257, 264. See also Greece; historical context, for trauma

anger, 46, 112, 138, 145–46, 180, 182–83, 191, 194, 197, 224–25, 266, 271, 285 n

anthropology, 6–7, 93, 96, 140, 289 n

antiwar protests, 3, 97–100, 141, 303 n

apophenia, xi, 30–31, 107, 205–6, 275 n, 281 n, 295 n

Aries, Philippe, 30

autotelic state, 238, 263

B

Baker, Dewleen, 114, 227

Barker, Pat, 90–91, 96

Barry, Jan, 139–41

Barthes, Roland, 241

Bear Creek Ranch, 108–9

Beck, Aaron, 198–99, 204, 307 n

before/after event, 2, 15–16, 58–59, 225, 277 n

behavior learning theory, 183–84. See also specific therapies

beta-blockers, 216, 222

Bierce, Ambrose, 108, 110

Big-T traumas, 50, ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Copyright
• Epigraph
• Author’s Note
• Prologue: The Warning
• Introduction
• Saydia
• In Terror’s Shadow
• Toward a Genealogy of Trauma
• The Haunted Mind
• Modern Trauma
• Therapy
• Drugs
• Alternatives
• Growth
• Epilogue: Counterfactuals
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• Connect with HMH
• Footnotes