ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider the recent ‘PTSD wars’ that have emerged as part of the debate about the legitimacy of the concept of the disorder and the boundaries of normal and abnormal distress. This is a necessary preliminary to an analysis of the epidemiology of PTSD in military populations, and finally an exploration of what we know about treatment of PTSD in the same setting. Epidemiological and treatment research can progress only with agreed definitions of what is being measured or addressed. However, there is a danger that the necessary act of reification, needed for efficacy and outcome research, can be taken as proof of reification in nature. It is a mistake to assume that because PTSD has a case definition and that this case definition can be used in epidemiological or therapeutic research, then this ‘proves’ the existence of the disorder as an independent entity. We trust that by now readers of this volume will have gathered our scepticism of such an ahistorical approach, one that neglects fundamental questions of culture. So before we look at the world of prevalences and randomised controlled trials, we need to consider the ‘PTSD wars’.
