Product Description

To write about the combat veteran is to write about fortitude, dedication and selflessness, and about experiences unfathomable to those who have never known the indescribable horrors of war. To write about you the veteran s spouse or partner is to write about another kind of loyalty and perseverance and yet another kind of pain and sadness. The trauma of war can affect not only the warriors, but their partners and children as well. Often it is you, the veteran s partner, who helps sustain the veteran during his or her depressions, anxiety attacks, and post-traumatic reactions. It may also be you, and perhaps you alone, who has sustained your veteran s will to live during his or her most anguished moments. Unfortunately, some veterans vent their anger (at themselves or at others whom they felt betrayed them) on the people they love and who love them the most their partners and children. The purpose of this book is to help you (and your veteran) better understand combat trauma and its possible effects on intimate relationships and family life and to guide you to resources that can help strengthen every member of your family. The beginning chapters provide basic information about combat trauma and how it can lead to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other forms of emotional pain. The remaining chapters focus on some of the most common problems confronting families of combat veterans: emotional numbing, sexual difficulties, anger, and guilt. There are also chapters on family violence, children, women veterans, and military couples and sections on how to cope with anger and depression, how to find helpful organizations and books, and how to communicate effectively on difficult issues. In addition to describing the tensions that can result from combat trauma, this book emphasizes the many ways a veteran s war experiences can help enrich individual family members and the family as a whole. Just as one part of your family cannot suffer without that suf

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #292463 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 488 pages

Review
Aphrodite Matsakis is a true visionary in the world of healing. Her book is a superb resource that paves the way to hope and healing for returning warriors, their spouses, their families, their medical and mental health professionals, and all those who care about them. Well done, Aphrodite! --Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army, Ret., Author of On Killing and On Combat

You do not have to be or know a veteran to be helped by this book. Read Back from the Front slowly from front to back. Listen to each and every story and to Matsakis's wise and clear advice. You will see yourself somewhere in its pages, and it will change how you think about the war and about the soldiers and non-soldiers we send off to do our fighting. --Thomas Palaima - Dickson Centennial Professor of Classics at the University of Texas at Austin, MacArthur fellow and specialist in the ancient and modern experience of war and violence

About the Author
Dr. Matsakis is an internationally recognized trauma specialist in areas such as post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders, clinical depression, and addiction and related issues and their impact on relationships and the family. She has authored twelve books self-help books for clients and therapists; two professional textbooks; three book chapters; and a book on the Greek-American experience. Dr. Matsakis has over thirty years experience counseling individuals, couples, and families, and six years experience teaching at the university level. She has conducted trauma-processing, pain-management, anger-management, self-esteem, and guilt-processing groups and has presented seminars on these and other topics nationally and internationally to both professional and lay audiences. Following the bombing in Oklahoma City, she was called upon to assist survivors and professionals. She has also presented at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day and at national conferences on sexual assault and anxiety management. She has testified on traumatic and stress reactions, addiction, mood disorders, and issues pertaining to racial discrimination. Dr. Matsakis received a BA in History from Washington University in St. Louis, an MA in Secondary Education from Stanford University, and an MA and PhD. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland.

Customer Reviews

Written just for us!
This was the best desciption of what Greg and I have gone through, I felt like it was written just for us.