A Tribute to Chaim Shatan, MD (1924-2001)*
by
Charles R. Figley, Ph.D.**

Bonnie Green (ISTSS President) asked me to tell you about Chaim "Hy" Shatan at this Annual ISTSS Banquet, especially about his significance to the field of traumatology and to our Society. I will keep my remarks to less than five minutes due to the already dense agenda.

The most recent (Fall, 2001) issue of Traumatic Stress Notes included an excellent testimonial to Hy, written by his long-time colleague, Arthur Egendorf. Please read it. It gives you a good sense of who Hy was as a human being.

Dr. Shatan made five important contributions to both the Society and to the field of traumatology. First, he organized the first non-governmental treatment program for Vietnam war combat veterans. Artie Egendorf, a Vietnam vet seeking help and help for others, first met Hy who led his rap group. These group inspired the group treatment approach now used today in most Veterans Administration Medical Centers and facilities throughout the US. These groups also inspired Robert Lifton's first book on Vietnam and its veterans, Home From the War: Neither Victims Nor Executioners (1973). Lifton joined Shatan as an early member of the treatment team. Rap groups inspired a generation of practitioners.

Second, Dr. Shatan organized and coordinated a successful effort to establish the diagnosis of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders in 1980 (APA, 1980). This was the first time that a single diagnosis help to clarify and guide practitioners and researchers toward and understanding of the immediate and long-term psychosocial and neurobiological consequences of traumatic events. PTSD now enjoys both public and professional acceptance. None of this would have been possible were it not for Dr. Shatan's initial leadership.

Third, Dr. Shatan was one of the first to discuss war atrocities, through is New York Times editorials (e.g., Shatan, 1971) and publications (e.g., Shatan, 1978). Among other things, he argued that infantry training induced and combat experiences reinforced the dehumanization of the enemy in mostly young, inexperienced males that neither inspire effective fighting nor prevent years of unwanted, post-war effects. These effects are associated with sexual dysfunction, racism, and violence. Throughout his career he continued to raise questions about the ethics of war and combat training.

Fourth, Dr. Shatan, a respected New York psychiatrist and psychoanalyst and educator (Shatan, 1997), applied his considerable influence in supporting the birth of the Consortium on Veteran Studies, the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (now ISTSS), and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Traumatic Stress as early founding members of these new and then controversial institutions. While the Society is the premier international organization of traumatologists, the Journal holds a similar stature among scholarly journals. Their current stature is due in part to Dr. Shatan's early endorsements.

Fifth, Dr. Shatan was and continued to his death to be a valuable mentor to the many traumatologists who have held leadership roles within the field. These include, among others, Norma Shatan, Dr. Gabrielle Shatan and Dr. Jeffrey Jay, Sarah Haley, Jack Smith, Arthur Egendorf, Charles Figley, Yael Danieli, and Robert Laufer.

Hy Shatan's humanity, love for life, curiosity, and dignity will be part of us forever and his contributions will continue to benefit tens of thousands of people helped by the institutions and people he nourished and influenced. He will be missed but his life will continue to be noticed.

Egendorf (2001) wrote "Hy saw a role for traumatologists as leaders -- practicing and showing others how to practice refusal to project evil onto others (emphasis mine)." May the spirit of Hy Shatan be with us as we challenge the evil of evil projection in the shadows of September 11th.
 

References
American Psychological Association (1980). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Edition. Washington, DC: Author.
Egendorf, A. (2001). Obituary In Memory of Chaim Shatan: the Human Being, the Organizer, the Artist  Traumatic Stress Points, 15:4, p. 5.
Lifton, R. J. (1973) Home from the war: Neither Victims Nor Executioners. NY: Basic Books.
Shatan, C. (1972). Post-Vietnam syndrome. New York Times, p.35, May 6.
Shatan, C. (1978). The emotional content of combat continues. In C. R. Figley (Ed.). Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans: Theory, research, and treatment, pp 173-188. NY: Brunner/Mazel. 
Shatan, C. (1997). Curriculum Vita. McGill Medical School.
Select Bibliography
Shatan, C. (1971). Memo: The Vietnam veteran and the psychoanalytic community. February 2.
Shatan, C. (1974). Through the membrane of reality: "Impacted grief" and perceptual dissonance in Vietnam combat veterans. Psychiatric Opinion 11(6), 6-15.
Shatan, C. (1975). War babies: Delayed impact of warmaking, persecution, and disaster on children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 45, 289.
Shatan, C. (1978a). Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans: the emotional context of combat continues. In C. R. Figley (Ed.), Stress disorders among Vietnam veterans: Theory, research and treatment (pp. 43-52). Brunner/Mazel.
Shatan, C. . (1978b). Letter to Dr. Marion Langer, Executive Director, American Orthopsychiatric Association, Feburary 16.
Shatan, C. (1985). Johnny, we don't want to know you: From DEROS and death camps to the diagnostic battlefield. Presented at the founding meeting of the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, September 23.
Shatan, C. (1987). Johnny, we hardly know you: The grief of soldiers and the Vietnam veterans' self-help movement. Presented at the Third Annual Meeting of the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Baltimore, MD., October 23.
Shatan, C. (1992). Enemies, armies, and PTSD: Divided consciousness and war - our next assignment. Presented a the First World Conference of the ISTSS, Amsterdam, Netherlands, June.
Shatan, C. (1997a). Personal interview with the author, October 28, 1997.
Shatan, C. (1997b). Personal memo to author, November 19, 1997.
Shatan, C., Haley, S. & Smith, J. (1979). Johnny comes marching home: The emotional context of combat stress. Concepts for the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III) of Mental Disorders. Unpublished paper, based on a panel "Can time heal all wounds: Diagnosis and Management of post-combat stress, presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Toronto, May, 1977.


* Invited presentation at the 17th Annual Conference of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, New Orleans, December 8, 2001.
** Professor, School of Social Work and Director of the FSU Traumatology Institute, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2570. Email: cfigley@mailer.fsu.edu. Phone: 850-644-9598.