Background
Shatan, Chaim Felix was born on September 1, 1924 in Wloclawek, Poland. Son of Morris Y. and Millie (Erdberg) Shatan.
expert pioneer Psychoanalyst medical educator
Shatan, Chaim Felix was born on September 1, 1924 in Wloclawek, Poland. Son of Morris Y. and Millie (Erdberg) Shatan.
Bachelor of Science. magna cum laude, McGill University, 1945. Doctor of Medicine, C.M., McGill University, 1947.
Doctor Shatan"s parents moved to Canada when he was two. He received his MDCM degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In 1949, he moved to New York City and founded a private practice in psychiatry in the early 1950s.
Doctor Shatan had a longtime interest in war and trauma and became deeply involved with Vietnam veterans in the late 1960s, responding to an invitation by one of the founders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, January Crumb (later known as January Barry), to form "rap groups" for veterans to speak about their emerging reactions.
His article "Post-Vietnam Syndrome" was printed on the Op-Editor page of the New York Times on May 6, 1972. He continued to advocate for Vietnam veterans and other victims of war, trauma and natural and manmade disasters.
In 1974, Shatan found out that "gross stress reaction," previously used to diagnose post-traumatic syndromes, had been eliminated from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is used to delineate psychological disorders. They relentlessly pursued the issue, and reached out to Mardi J. Horowitz Doctor of Medicine, the pioneer of experimental research in traumatic stress response, Harley Shands, Doctor of Medicine, Chief of Psychiatry at Roosevelt Hospital, who was working on worker"s compensation cases, and William G. Niederland, Doctor of Medicine, who had initiated the study of reactions in concentration camp survivors with Henry Krystal.
The group was successful in returning the diagnosis to the next edition of the book, DSM-III, under the new name "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder," a term which evolved from discussions between Shatan and the Working Group with Nancy Andreasen.
Fellow American Orthopsychiat. Association (grantee), American Academy Psychoanalysis, American Psychiatric Association, Canada Psychiatric Association, World Psychiatric Association, International Psychoanalytic Forum, International Society Political Psychology (founder). Member American Medical Association, Group for Use of Psychology in History, International Psychohist.
Association, International Society Traumatic Stress Studies (founder, board directors), New York State Medical Society, New York Council Child Psychiatry, New York County Medical Society, Montreal Medical Society, Washington White Psychoanalytic Society, Lenstock Association, Alpha Omega Alpha.
Married Norma Claire Altstedter, May 29, 1955. Children: Gregory Samuel, Gabrielle Rebecca, Jessica Anne, Jeremy Daniel Irving.