The Wounds of War
The Wilson Center’s Nancy Sherman, an expert on the psychological toll of war, discusses post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the military, days after a U.S. soldier was accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians.
The Wilson Center’s Nancy Sherman, an expert on the psychological toll of war, discusses post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the military, days after a U.S. soldier was accused of massacring 16 Afghan civilians.
Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar Nancy Sherman, a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, discusses the psychological pressures on today’s military. Interviewed on WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show, Sherman offers her expert analysis—only days after the jarring news that a U.S. service member killed 16 unarmed Afghan civilians. Author of The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of Our Soldiers, Sherman discusses the stigma behind seeking psychological treatment and the need for everyone to be alert to warning signs.
“The questions that get raised in my mind were what psychological burdens was this individual carrying? Maybe they were recognized by the unit commanders but sufficient red flags were not raised,” she says.