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Stephen Sonnenberg

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Stephen M. Sonnenberg
Sonnenberg in 2023
Born(1940-03-22)March 22, 1940
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
EducationPrinceton University (AB); Albert Einstein College of Medicine (MD)
Known forMedical humanities education; war trauma and PTSD research
Scientific career
FieldsPsychiatry; psychoanalysis; medical humanities
WorkplacesUniversity of Texas at Austin; Baylor College of Medicine; George Washington University; Uniformed Services University

Stephen Sonnenberg (born March 22, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and educator at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a professor at the Dell Medical School and holds the Paul B. Woodruff Professorship for Excellence in Undergraduate Studies.[1][2] His work focuses on medical education and the psychological effects of war and violence, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and has included clinical research, teaching in the medical humanities, and testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.[1]

Early life and education

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Educated at Princeton University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Sonnenberg trained in internal medicine and psychiatry, worked as a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, and later completed psychoanalytic training at the Baltimore–Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Career

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He has practiced medicine since 1965 and has taught medical humanities and ethics at the University of Texas at Austin since 2012. His work centers on medical education and the psychological effects of war and violence, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),[3] which he examined in both clinical and theoretical terms, with attention to its impact on behavior, identity, and ethical experience. He testified on these issues before the United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs in 1981[4] and 1988,[5] and co-edited The Trauma of War: Stress and Recovery in Viet Nam Veterans (1985).[6] His work on war and trauma developed during a period of expanding academic interest in the Vietnam War.

He later served as director of research for the Project on the Vietnam Generation, where he helped shape its research agenda and academic programs. The project, founded by Vietnam veteran John Wheeler and based at the National Museum of American History, examined the psychological and social impact of the Vietnam era on those who came of age during the period, which Sonnenberg described as a generation shaped by both conflict and its aftermath.[7][8][9]

In the 1980s, his work focused on psychiatry’s public role and on the psychological aspects of war, politics, and conflict. He was quoted in The New York Times in 1982 as the director of the Washington School of Psychiatry, noting a decline in psychiatric training.[10] He was later quoted in Newsweek in 1988 as the head of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s public affairs committee and a practicing analyst in Washington, D.C., in connection with professional outreach efforts in psychoanalysis.[11] In 1985, he chaired a session on "The psychology of nuclear deterrence and national behavior" at a meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, alongside colleagues from the Carnegie Endowment’s Psychology of Deterrence Project, reflecting his work at the Washington School of Psychiatry.[12]

In 2017, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Sonnenberg a grant to develop the undergraduate medical humanities program Patients, Practitioners, and Cultures of Care (PPCC) at the University of Texas at Austin.[13] He has served as chair of the program’s faculty panel. In 2024, a $2 million endowment from the Bratcher family expanded and renamed the program in honor of Joe W. Bratcher III.[14] This endowment supported growth in undergraduate medical humanities education.

He has appeared on the University of Texas podcast This Is Democracy, hosted by Jeremi Suri, discussing topics including mental health, public policy, and the COVID-19 pandemic.[15]

Honors and recognition

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Sonnenberg received the Chad Oliver Teaching Award from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin in 2026.[16] The award, first presented in 1990 and named for Plan II alumnus and professor Chad Oliver, is given annually to a faculty member chosen by vote of the Plan II student body for excellence in teaching and dedication to the program.[17]

Books

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  • Sonnenberg, Stephen M., Blank, Arthur S, and Talbott, John A. The Trauma of War: Stress and Recovery in Viet Nam Veterans. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1985. ISBN 9780880480482
  • Ursano, Robert J., Sonnenberg, Stephen M., and Lazar, Susan G. Concise Guide to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Principles and Techniques of Brief, Intermittent, and Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. American Psychiatric Publishing Inc, 2004 ISBN 9781281396082

References

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  1. 1 2 "Stephen Sonnenberg, M.D." Dell Medical School. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  2. ↑ "Stephen Sonnenberg, MD". UT Social Work. Retrieved 2026-04-05.
  3. ↑ Sonnenberg, Stephen M. (1988). "Victims of Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder". Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 11 (4): 581–590. doi:10.1016/S0193-953X(18)30471-4. PMID 3062592.
  4. ↑ Veterans' Programs Extension and Improvement Act of 1981: Hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate (Report). U.S. Government Printing Office. 1981.
  5. ↑ Oversight on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Hearing before the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, United States Senate (Report). U.S. Government Printing Office. 1988.
  6. ↑ Sonnenberg, Stephen M.; Blank, Arthur S., eds. (1985). The Trauma of war: stress and recovery in Viet Nam veterans. Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Press. ISBN 978-0-88048-048-2.
  7. ↑ Salmon-Heyneman, Jana (August 27, 1986). "POWs of an Era: Understanding the Vietnam Generation" (PDF). The Washington Post.
  8. ↑ Franklin, Ben A. (1986-06-08). "On the phenomenon that was the Vietnam era". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Project on the Vietnam Generation Report, Vol. 1, No. 3" (PDF). Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion, and Public Life. March 1986. p. 7.
  10. ↑ Nelson, Bryce (1982-11-02). "PSYCHIATRY'S ANXIOUS YEARS: DECLINE IN ALLURE; AS A CAREER LEADS TO SELF-EXAMINATION". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
  11. ↑ Gelman, David (June 27, 1988). "Where are the patients?". Newsweek. pp. 62–69.
  12. ↑ Official program/directory (PDF). International Society of Political Psychology Annual Meeting 1985. June 18–21, 1985. p. 14. Session: The Psychology of Nuclear Deterrence and National Behavior
  13. ↑ "UTSOA Receives NEH Grant to Fund New Bridging Disciplines Program". UT School of Architecture. Archived from the original on 2017-10-26.
  14. ↑ "New Endowment Supports Patients, Practitioners & Cultures of Care (PPCC) Certificate | Academic Programs for Undergraduates". undergraduates.utexas.edu. Archived from the original on 2026-04-07. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
  15. ↑ "Stephen Sonnenberg – This Is Democracy". University of Texas at Austin.
  16. ↑ "Commencement 2026". College of Liberal Arts. The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
  17. ↑ "Teaching Award". Plan II Honors Program. The University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2026-06-11.
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Stephen Sonnenberg faculty profile at the University of Texas at Austin, including a link to his 2026 Chad Oliver Teaching Award speech

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