Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services

Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 467
Release: 2018-03-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309466601

Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.

The End of Trauma

The End of Trauma
Author: George A. Bonanno
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2021-09-07
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1541674375

With “groundbreaking research on the psychology of resilience” (Adam Grant), a top expert on human trauma argues that we vastly overestimate how common PTSD is in and fail to recognize how resilient people really are. After 9/11, mental health professionals flocked to New York to handle what everyone assumed would be a flood of trauma cases. Oddly, the flood never came. In The End of Trauma, pioneering psychologist George A. Bonanno argues that we failed to predict the psychological response to 9/11 because most of what we understand about trauma is wrong. For starters, it’s not nearly as common as we think. In fact, people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. What we often interpret as PTSD are signs of a natural process of learning how to deal with a specific situation. We can cope far more effectively if we understand how this process works. Drawing on four decades of research, Bonanno explains what makes us resilient, why we sometimes aren’t, and how we can better handle traumatic stress. Hopeful and humane, The End of Trauma overturns everything we thought we knew about how people respond to hardship.

Gender and PTSD

Gender and PTSD
Author: Rachel Kimerling
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2002-08-19
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781572307834

Current research and clinical observations suggest pronounced gender-based differences in the ways people respond to traumatic events. Most notably, women evidence twice the rate of PTSD as men following traumatic exposure. This important volume brings together leading clinical scientists to analyze the current state of knowledge on gender and PTSD. Cogent findings are presented on gender-based differences and influences in such areas as trauma exposure, risk factors, cognitive and physiological processes, comorbidity, and treatment response. Going beyond simply cataloging gender-related data, the book explores how the research can guide us in developing more effective clinical services for both women and men. Incorporating cognitive, biological, physiological, and sociocultural perspectives, this is an essential sourcebook and text.

Pain and Behavioral Medicine

Pain and Behavioral Medicine
Author: Dennis C. Turk
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 1983-01-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780898629170

This immensely practical volume describes the rationale, development, and utilization of cognitive-behavioral techniques in promoting health, preventing disease, and treating illness, with a particular focus on pain management. An ideal resource for a wide range of practitioners and researchers, the book's coverage of pain management includes theoretical, research, and clinical issues, and includes illustrative case material.

Trauma Assessments

Trauma Assessments
Author: Eve B. Carlson
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 328
Release: 1997-08-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9781572302518

This book is intended for clinicians at all levels of experience who seek a guide to the assessment of psychological trauma and its effects. After discussion of the theoretical foundation for understanding human responses to traumatic events, Dr. Carlson addresses both conceptual and practical aspects of selecting and administering measures to assess traumatic experiences and trauma responses. Additional chapters provide guidance in interpreting results of assessments and diagnosing trauma-related disorders and a brief introduction to major forms of treatment of trauma-related disorders. Profiles of 36 recommended measures of traumatic experiences and trauma responses are included and are designed to make it easy to find the information needed to obtain the measures. Measures profiled include self-report and interview measures of trauma, self-report measures of trauma responses, structured interviews for posttraumatic and dissociative disorders, and measures for children and adolescents. Flowcharts provide a quick reference for choosing measures at each stage of the assessment process.

The Evil Hours

The Evil Hours
Author: David J. Morris
Publisher: HMH
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2015-01-20
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0544084497

“An essential book” on PTSD, an all-too-common condition in both military veterans and civilians (The New York Times Book Review). Post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts as many as 30 percent of those who have experienced twenty-first-century combat—but it is not confined to soldiers. Countless ordinary Americans also suffer from PTSD, following incidences of abuse, crime, natural disasters, accidents, or other trauma—yet in many cases their symptoms are still shrouded in mystery, secrecy, and shame. This “compulsively readable” study takes an in-depth look at the subject (Los Angeles Times). Written by a war correspondent and former Marine with firsthand experience of this disorder, and drawing on interviews with individuals living with PTSD, it forays into the scientific, literary, and cultural history of the illness. Using a rich blend of reporting and memoir, The Evil Hours is a moving work that will speak not only to those with the condition and to their loved ones, but also to all of us struggling to make sense of an anxious and uncertain time.