04/10/2011
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Synopsis
Claudia Hammond talks to Jess Goodell about her role in Mortuary Affairs in the US Marines. Jess's job was to recover the remains of soldiers in Iraq so they could be returned to the US. She talks about the psychological impact of retrieving bodies often in the aftermath of Improvised Explosive Devices. In her training she was told "PTSD is real - like 'flu." In her insightful account of one aspect of the Iraq conflict she explains how she developed PTSD and how she dealt with the nightmares and depression on returning home to civilian life.
Jess, I heard you on NPR over the summer before your book came out. I have to admit I haven't read the book yet because I've been carrying a full-time load in college since the beginning of the summer. Actually, this is why I'm writing. I'm doing a research project on something called dignity therapy (which I also learned about on NPR!). Dignity therapy employs memoir to treat terminally ill patients. I'm extremely interested in this form of therapy, and it has lead me to wonder about memoir as therapy for PTSD. I know from personal experience that journaling is good medicine. I would like to know if you wrote this book as a form of therapy. Even if you didn't plan it that way from the beginning, has the writing of this book been a form of healing for you? I sure hope so, and I'd love to add your comments to my research if at all possible. Thank you, and I thank God for your life and story. Surely He is going to use both of them in powerful ways! You may email me at mecristian@usca.edu if you are willing.
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