Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses contemporary versions of Catch-22 experienced by American soldiers who deployed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Paper long abstract:

The Catch-22 originally described -- in Joseph Heller’s eponymous novel — a situation where it is impossible to get exempted from combat duty on the grounds of insanity due to the fact that officers judged the very wish to seek such exemption as proof of a sane mind. Since 9/11 much has changed in the moral economy of mental health care in the American military. There have been major efforts to lessen the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder and remove barriers to treatment. Nevertheless, some soldiers today perceive versions of the Catch-22: darkly amusing ironies and double binds in their experiences of programs to screen and treat psychosocial problems related to combat. Such contemporary Catch-22s reflect not just the well-known tradition of military black humor in the face of death and injury, but also differences in the way that clinicians and soldiers reason about the lived effects of war.