Conflict is a prominent and ineluctable aspect of the human experience, with war playing a pivotal role in shaping society and its interactions. Whether it is those actively taking part in the war efforts, their families, or the community, neither party involved returns unscathed from the traumatizing effects of war. The experiences of those affected by war are relatively similar in terms of physical loss and mental anguish; however, the explanation and coping mechanisms used to suppress/recover from these experiences differ between Vietnamese and American societies. The history behind each country’s approach to the effects of war centers around one key concept: development, and within these two conflicting paradigms: tradition and modernity.
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It was not until Vietnam veterans returned from the war in the 1970’s that physicians saw a trend of behaviors among that group (Wadley 2016). PTSD was the country’s long-awaited medical reasoning for the strange, sporadic, and oftentimes belligerent behavior of so many returning veterans. With this official diagnosis, many veterans could receive counseling, be prescribed medication for anxiety and depression, and would finally be accepted by the public back into society. But, although the society would accept them, they were not ready to accept …show more content…
The landscape had been almost entirely mutilated from the warfare, the political and economic climate of the nation was unsteady and 51 million soldiers and civilians were dead with an additional 300,000 missing (Gustafsson 2009, 125). However, the aftermath of the war would prove to be much more than the mere deaths of loved ones, but also the haunting of these dead on the living. These angry spirits or con ma are thought to haunt families, close friends, colleagues, and anyone who may have been involved in their deaths (Gustafsson 2009, 11). These ghosts may become angry out of envy for their living family members but more times than not it is because they have not received a proper burial. Several informants in Gustafsson’s book were afflicted with physical pain and bipolar tendencies but would justify it as the haunting of individuals who had died during the war. In order to find release from the afflictions, many would seek the assistance of mediums and shamans to contact with the dead directly. After crossing into the other world or being willingly possessed by the ghost, they would tell those suffering how to please the ghosts and their symptoms would either disappear or lessen. Western cultures would consider these types actions as signs of PTSD but the Vietnamese attribute this to the
It was not until Vietnam veterans returned from the war in the 1970’s that physicians saw a trend of behaviors among that group (Wadley 2016). PTSD was the country’s long-awaited medical reasoning for the strange, sporadic, and oftentimes belligerent behavior of so many returning veterans. With this official diagnosis, many veterans could receive counseling, be prescribed medication for anxiety and depression, and would finally be accepted by the public back into society. But, although the society would accept them, they were not ready to accept …show more content…
The landscape had been almost entirely mutilated from the warfare, the political and economic climate of the nation was unsteady and 51 million soldiers and civilians were dead with an additional 300,000 missing (Gustafsson 2009, 125). However, the aftermath of the war would prove to be much more than the mere deaths of loved ones, but also the haunting of these dead on the living. These angry spirits or con ma are thought to haunt families, close friends, colleagues, and anyone who may have been involved in their deaths (Gustafsson 2009, 11). These ghosts may become angry out of envy for their living family members but more times than not it is because they have not received a proper burial. Several informants in Gustafsson’s book were afflicted with physical pain and bipolar tendencies but would justify it as the haunting of individuals who had died during the war. In order to find release from the afflictions, many would seek the assistance of mediums and shamans to contact with the dead directly. After crossing into the other world or being willingly possessed by the ghost, they would tell those suffering how to please the ghosts and their symptoms would either disappear or lessen. Western cultures would consider these types actions as signs of PTSD but the Vietnamese attribute this to the