ROGER SWEET is a psychologist who retired after a 48-year career. In 1969, less than 24 hours after receiving his Ph.D., he was ordered to report for active duty. For the next 2 years, he practiced psychology as a Captain in the Medical Service Corps. He developed procedures for treating what at the time was called Battle Fatigue, Shell Shock, etc. It took at least 10 more years before PTSD became recognized and utilized as the appropriate, treatment-oriented diagnosis.
For the next 8 years, he worked as a civil commitment court evaluator as well as a clinician with the Psychiatric Clinic in Mankato Minnesota. He specialized in the treatment of children and adolescents. However in a small town, semi-rural area, he often had to treat whoever walked in the door.
In 1980 after moving to Minneapolis, he served 2 years as the Treatment Coordinator for the inpatient adolescent unit at the University of Minnesota Hospitals. For the next 3 years he was director for one of several clinics that was part of a local HMO. By the late 1980's he had developed a full-time clinical and forensic practice. Around 2001 he gradually phased out of his clinical practice in order to devote full time to his forensic practice which included evaluations in the areas of child custody, post-divorce decree mediation, juvenile and adult competency to proceed to trial, criminal evaluations referred either by the county attorneys office or private defense attorneys, and civil commitments (Mental Illness, Chemical Dependency, Mentally ill and Dangerous, Sexual Offenders).
By the mid-1990s he began writing poems, which quickly morphed into writing song lyrics as well as poems. This has continued to the present time and served as the basis for the book. He used to play a lot of tennis and racket ball, was a long-distance cyclist, a 10K level runner, and wilderness camper. He can still play a lousy game of golf, hike up to a couple of miles, lift weights, and do 10 mile bike rides. He remains a blues and hard rock fan as long as it's played LOUD. Favorite authors are James Lee Burke, Michael Connelly, Cormack McCarthy and Daniel Silva. Roger lives in Arizona with his wife (Gail) of 58 years.
