The grief of soldiers: Vietnam combat veterans' self-help movement.

While the government has claimed few “psychiatric casualties” among Vietnam war veterans, most symptoms are delayed in onset, due to emotional anesthesia brought on by a combination of combat trauma and the military's counter-guerrilla training, which discourages grief and intimacy. This paper describes the symptoms reported by veterans, and their efforts in launching a self-help movement of group sessions and other activities, outside the auspices of a Veterans Administration that they find unresponsive to their needs. The involvement in the veterans' movement of mental health professionals is described, and the inadequacy of the traditional therapist-patient relationship is discussed.