{"id":24710,"date":"2026-02-18T10:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/?p=24710"},"modified":"2026-02-18T10:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:44:27","slug":"civil-war-prisons-and-ptsd-topic-of-esu-professors-presentation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/civil-war-prisons-and-ptsd-topic-of-esu-professors-presentation\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil War Prisons and PTSD Topic of ESU Professor\u2019s Presentation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Civil War\u00a0history will meet modern-day\u00a0mental health practices during an interactive presentation co-led by East Stroudsburg University Professor of History Michael P. Gray, Ph.D., on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 2-3 p.m. at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD.\u00a0The event can also be streamed\u00a0live on the museum\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dr.\u00a0Gray, an\u00a0author and\u00a0expert on Civil War-era prisons, will present \u201cCivil War Prisons and Trauma: Andersonville, PTSD, EMDR, and Self Care,\u201d with Stephanie A. Stathas, a licensed professional therapist with the Pennsylvania Counseling Cooperative.<\/p>\n

The pair will incorporate their respective specialties to analyze how prisoners at Andersonville Prison, one of the most notorious lockups of that era,\u00a0might have used their own self-care methods to\u00a0cope\u00a0with their captivity and perilous environment.\u00a0Nearly 13,000\u00a0prisoners died at Andersonville in just 15 months of operation, Gray said.<\/p>\n

To research the topic, Gray combed through primary sources like prison letters and diaries. Stathas then analyzed them\u00a0through\u00a0a contemporary therapy lens. The result is a then-and-now connection that Gray hopes will provide the audience with a unique perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope attendees learn the evolution of\u00a0post-traumatic stress\u00a0disorder\u00a0from Andersonville but also bring awareness of how to cope with trauma in the present,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

While the conversation will center around the Civil War, psychology and science will also play a key role, particularly the use of coping strategies like Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR). According to the American Psychological Association, EMDR is a\u00a0type of therapy\u00a0involving eye movements\u00a0that helps your brain process traumatic memories\u00a0so\u00a0that\u00a0they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0feel as intense anymore.<\/p>\n

Gray has even begun incorporating EMDR exercises into his classes by having students imagine they are practicing the therapy with Andersonville captives, those who faced the Salem Witch Trials and other traumatized historical figures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe students take a\u00a0\u2018time machine\u2019\u00a0and role play in practicing EMDR with the traumatized patient,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

East Stroudsburg University offers a\u00a0bachelor of arts degree in history<\/a>, with concentrations in American and world history, secondary education in social studies, and public history. The master\u2019s degree can be completed as part of an\u00a0Accelerated Pathway B.A.\/M.A. Program<\/a>\u00a0that would allow students to complete both programs in five years. Students can also pursue a history minor that they can pair with any major.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the\u00a0history program<\/a>\u00a0at ESU.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0additional\u00a0details about the presentation, visit the\u00a0National Museum of Civil War Medicine\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Civil War\u00a0history will meet modern-day\u00a0mental health practices during an interactive presentation co-led by ESU Professor of History Michael P. Gray, Ph.D., on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 2-3 p.m. at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, MD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":20744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[143,42,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-news-release","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24710"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24715,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24710\/revisions\/24715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}