Matthew J. Friedman oral history interview

The Scope and Contents note of this oral history was originally generated by feeding the electronic transcript into OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o on 2024 September 06. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

In this oral history interview, Dr. Matthew J. Friedman discusses his experiences and views surrounding the Vietnam War and its aftermath, focusing on his professional journey and anti-war stance. Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, and educated at Dartmouth College as the first math-psychology major, Friedman initially resisted but later embraced a career in medicine, intersecting psychiatry and neuropharmacology. His anti-war sentiment influenced his refusal to serve in the military and involvement in civil rights activism. After medical school, he worked with Vietnam veterans at the VA Hospital, pioneering research on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and advocating for its recognition as a legitimate medical diagnosis. Friedman was instrumental in founding the National Center for PTSD, facing challenges in gaining acceptance for PTSD within the medical community and broader society, and emphasizing the need for public health approaches and preventive measures. He reflects on the future of PTSD research, including the establishment of a PTSD Brain Bank, and stresses the importance of integrating clinical and public health strategies to address PTSD comprehensively.