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These books are must-reads for victims of military trauma and their loved ones:
—The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is a best-selling, compassionate book by one of the world's top experts in mental illness. He started his career in the '60's in the VA, but had to leave when he was told that research into trauma was not one of their concerns. The book describes the physiology of trauma, many case studies (including military situations handled with extraordinary compassion), and new non-pharmaceutical treatments. Note: the case studies involve some graphic descriptions of atrocities.

—Trauma and Recovery by Dr. Judith Herman is a classic on the history of the treatment of mental illness: the similarities between the experiences of traumatized vets and abused women, how Freud was pressured into retracting his discovery that his female patients were victims of childhood incest (resulting in the cruel psychoanalytic practice of blaming the victim), the use of borderline diagnosis as a pejorative substitute for PTSD, etc. Note: the Recovery section is out-of-date.

Good fiction (not about mental illness) can reduce the need for medications, prevent hospitalizations, and interrupt suicidal ruminations by distracting traumatized readers from their pain. If you read general fiction for pleasure, please vote on and/or add suggestions to this reading list: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...