Shame, guilt, self-hatred and remorse in the psychotherapy of Vietnam combat veterans who committed atrocities.

The soldiers who perpetrated atrocities during the Vietnam War are a group much less studied than the victims of violence during peacetime. These soldiers were catalyzed by war to express a darker side of their humanity, a side that our society often chosses to ignore. At some level their experiences relate to us all. In the future more young men and, probably young women, will be sent to war. Once they have been transformed by military training and the hellish conditions of war, society tends to forget them--to leave them wandering in a no man's land of their own tortured thoughts and feelings. We need to understand more about how such transformations of the self beset our returning soldiers. And, once this has happened, we need to know how to help them reintegrate into society and reconnect with others in a meaningful way. A psychotherpy that embraces the patient's need to express remorse is necessary in order to help these patients work through their guilt and self-hatred. These are the main objectives of treatment.