Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum

“All the Elements of Sublimity and Terror”: Veterans and the Psychological Impact of War – Stephen A. Goldman, M.D., LFACLP, DLFAPA

      War has existed almost since the dawn of civilization, with its horrors the subject of poems, novels, histories, and memoirs for centuries, and movies since cinema began. At the same time, other emotions and experiences associated with battle have been comparatively underemphasized, if addressed at all. But if Americans who have never gone to war are to understand its full spectrum, the exhilaration felt by those who have been under fire, along with combat’s terror, destructiveness, and revolting facets, must be examined.

      In this talk, Dr. Stephen A. Goldman will present a unified, unsparing look at the full panoply of war, including its terrible grandeur, surprising elements of beauty, and life-altering, multifaceted effect on those who survive.

About the Speaker

Stephen A. Goldman, M.D. is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, war historian, and the only physician to serve on the Abraham Lincoln Institute Board of Directors. His psychiatric academic career and clinical experience with combat veterans, decades-long study of American veterans spanning the Civil War to today, and their ramifications are exemplified in his groundbreaking book, One More War to Fight: Union Veterans’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause.