Conversations with History: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley

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This interview is part of the Institute's "Conversations with History" series, and uses Internet technology to share with the public Berkeley's distinction as a global forum for ideas.

Welcome to a Conversation with History. I'm Harry Kreisler of the Institute of International Studies. Our guest today is Dr. Judith Lewis Herman, M.D., 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, Massachusetts. Her fields of research are the psychology of women, child abuse and domestic violence, and post-traumatic disorders. A pioneer in the study of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the sexual abuse of women and children, her numerous publications include Trauma and Recovery and Father-Daughter Incest.

1. Background ... influence of parents ... the moral example of her mother ... mentored by Laurence Wylie ... cooperative, observation-based learning ... the women's movement ... consciousness raising ... the civil rights movement
2. Seeing Face to Face ... the case of incest ... psychological insight and political understanding ... women's new consciousness ... from the particular to the universal ... the simplicity of radical ideas
3. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder ... diagnosis ... despair and helplessness ... dissociation and the double reality ... hope and recovery ... complex solutions to complex cases ... incest and its relationship to patriarchy ... connecting to others ... transcending trauma
4. Lessons Learned ... the importance of history and politics ... the really interesting questions

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