...Understanding the
connection to my anxiety and hypnogognic hallucinations in light of Atwood’s
fictional accounts is where Herman’s work comes in.
Through facts and
examples, Herman offers an explanation for Grace Mark’s behavior which today we
know as post-traumatic stress disorder. Considered a pioneer in the study of
post-traumatic stress disorder, Herman helped create the standard for this
disorder for The Psychiatric Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, V. In a recent interview at UC Berkeley for the “Conversations with
History,” segment, moderator Harry Kreisler explains Herman’s background and
work when he introduced her. “Dr. Judith Lewis Herman, M.D. (is) Professor of
Clinical Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School and Director of
Training at the Victims of Violence Program in the Department of Psychiatry at
the Cambridge Hospital, Cambridge, MA. Her fields of
research are the psychology of women, child abuse and domestic violence, and
post-traumatic disorders.” In addition, in this interview, Herman explains how
her parents, who were children of Jewish immigrants, influenced her. “My father
became a professor of classics, my mother became a psychologist – I think they
instilled what I would call Enlightenment values or progressive values in their
children.” Since my grandmother is Jewish this information about Herman
provides another link to her that I resonate with. Like my early mentor Mr.
Grimes, Herman also credits a mentor early in her life who helped her develop
ideas that would spark her career....My Note: Often those 'conversations with history' turn out to be our own 'history'... [...]
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