Jonathan Shay
| Jonathan Shay | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941 |
| Nationality |
 United States
|
| Fields | Psychiatry |
| Institutions | Veterans Administration, Boston (1987-2008) |
| Alma mater | University of Pennsylvania |
| Known for | Research on complex post-traumatic stress disorder, Homeric literature |
| Influences | Homer, Judith Herman, Charles Figley |
| Notable awards | MacArthur Fellows Program (2007); Salem Award (2010) |
Jonathan Shay (born 1941) is a doctor and clinical psychiatrist. He holds a B.A from Harvard (1963) and an M.D. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania. He is best known for his publications comparing the experiences of Vietnam veterans with the descriptions of war and homecoming in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
Shay's early medical work was laboratory research on how central nervous system cells are affected by strokes, but after suffering a stroke himself, he went to work for the United States Department of Veterans' Affairs outpatient clinic in Boston. While working there, in his words, "The veterans simply kidnapped me," and his work with them "utterly redirected my life."
In 1987, Shay shifted from neuropathology to the study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and published a short article linking the combat histories of patients at the VA with the experience of war described in Homer's Iliad. He was then approached by classics professor Gregory Nagy who suggested that the topic might be expanded into a full-length book on the nature and treatment of PTSD.
He has written two books, Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, which discuss PTSD by reference to the experiences of American veterans of the Vietnam War, and the experiences depicted in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Shay's research uncovered what may be the earliest historical reference to PTSD, in Lady Percy's soliloquy in Henry IV, Part 1 (act 2, scene 3, lines 40-62). Written around 1597, it represents an unusually accurate description of the symptom constellation of PTSD.
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