FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Brian Watson, Salem Award Committee
watson@nii.net
(781) 598-0536
DR. JONATHAN SHAY WILL RECEIVE SALEM AWARD
FOR WORK WITH VETERANS
Psychiatrist fought for treatment and acceptance of veterans
with post-traumatic stress disorder
April 27, 2011 - The 19th annual Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice will be presented on Saturday, May 7, 2011, to Dr. Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., for his work studying and understanding the nature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans of the Vietnam War, and for bringing to public attention the specific causes, effects, and complex realities of war-induced psychological injury.
The evening begins with dinner with Dr. Shay at 5:30 at Salem High School. The award ceremony begins at 7:30 and will be followed by a reception and book signing. For more information and reservations, go to www.salemaward.org. Free reservations for Salem residents and Salem State University students can be made at Salem City Hall and at the Student Life Office at SSU. There is a fee of $10 for non-residents, and the cost of the dinner is $50 for both residents and non-residents.
Because of his work and the work of others, the more than six million troops who have served in combat since the beginning of the Vietnam War can now seek treatment for PTSD, though many continue to fear that the stigma will affect their careers. Untreated PTSD results in on-going emotional pain and suffering, difficulty with family and jobs, self-destructive and criminal behavior, homelessness, and incarceration of veterans at rates disproportionate to their presence in the population.
Shay is a doctor and clinical psychiatrist. He began working with veterans suffering combat trauma at the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Boston in the 1980s; it has taken many years of working with veterans, speaking out and advocating for them in order for PTSD to be recognized and understood not as a defect in character, but what Dr. Shay calls “a psychological injury of war.”
His work is widely known and respected in the military. In 1994 he published “Achilles In Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character”, and in 2002, “Odysseus In America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.” The books explore the effects on individual human character that cause disabling psychiatric wounds. PTSD can and does afflict anybody, including the strongest, bravest, and most capable among us.
In 1999 to 2000, he performed the Commandant of the Marine Corps Trust Study, and in 2001 he was Visiting Scholar-at-Large at the US Naval War College. From 2004 to 2005 he was Chair of Ethics, Leadership, and Personnel Policy in the Office of the US Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and, in the spring of 2009 he was the Omar Bradley Chair of Strategic Leadership at the US Army War College. In 2007 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.
Like those who spoke out against the Witch Trials in 1692, it is his voice and the voice of others speaking out against injustice that have changed the way the military and the public treat a group of citizens, in this case US troops who suffer from PTSD, both during active duty and after. Through his work, Dr. Shay has helped make it possible for those who serve in the military and others in the path of war with PTSD to be offered treatment so that they have an opportunity to lead a full life.
The Salem Award Foundation for Human Rights and Social Justice www.salemaward.org was established following the tercentenary of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Its mission is to recognize, honor and perpetuate the commitment to social justice and human rights of individuals and organizations whose work is proven to have alleviated discrimination or promoted tolerance. The Salem Award is our attempt today to acknowledge what happened more than 300 years ago, and to honor present-day champions who speak for those who are being marginalized, disempowered or oppressed in any number of ways.
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