PTSD Coach - new app for veterans with PTSD

The current issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have created an app for mobile devices to help veterans and active duty personnel who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The PTSD Coach app provides validated information about PTSD and its treatment, as well as interactive tools for self-assessment and managing your symptoms.

The app is intended to be a useful adjunct to traditional care. It is not a replacement for care by a qualified clinician.

If you have PTSD, or if you think you might have PTSD, check out the PTSD Coach app.

By Thomas Mangan

http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-rochester/ptsd-coach-new-app-for-veterans-with-ptsd

The War Within: Part I - Military Sexual Trauma | The American Legion | Veterans Serving Veterans

Burden of Proof. Military sexual trauma is the leading cause of post-traumatic stress among female veterans. The extent of the problem is unknown, because victims are reluctant to come forward. The Pentagon estimates that there were more than 19,000 sexual assaults in the ranks in 2010 – an increase of about 3,000 from 2009. Only 3,158 were officially reported. About 40 percent of MST survivors are men. Around 25 percent of sexual assaults occur during combat deployments

Survivors face a perplexing double standard from VA when they file PTS claims, says Greg Jacob, a former Marine who is now policy director for SWAN. Last year, VA eased the burden of proof for combat PTS claims. Essentially, veterans no longer need independent evidence to confirm they were exposed to enemy threats such as roadside bombs or mortar attacks.

Sexual-trauma survivors, however, still have to submit corroborating evidence of their assault. That’s a significant challenge, even if they report harassment or assault at the time it happens. DoD only keeps rape kits for a year, and sexual-harassment investigations for two years. By the time an assault survivor gets out of the service and files a PTS claim with VA, the evidence has usually been destroyed, Jacob says.

VA allows so-called secondary evidence, such as statements from friends, relatives or others with whom the survivor may have confided about the assault. It’s meaningless, Jacob says. “VA says you can submit it. But it has no guidance for the claims officer to accept it, and hasn’t published anything about what the burden of proof is.”

By Ken Olsen

The War Within: Part I - Military Sexual Trauma The American Legion Veterans Serving Veterans

Reduced Recognition of Fear and Sadness in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Study Analysis by Karen Estrada, M.S.

The current study investigated whether people with PTSD have difficulties in perceiving and recognizing emotional faces and whether such a problem will be observed across a range of
different emotions.

Study hypothesis:
There is a decline in the accuracy and sensitivity of the recognition of these emotions (listed below*) in PTSD population.
Six basic or universal emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise.
Sample:
Twenty males with PTSD recruited from a war veterans’ self-help group; control group, twenty healthy males, matched on age and education.

http://www.militaryhealthmatters.org/2011/08/reduced-recognition-of-fear-and-sadness-in-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/

DOD & VA Addressing Unseen Wounds

Both the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration look at both PTSD and TBI as the unseen wounds of war and both conditions can share a complex relationship. For example, an explosive device that causes a TBI can also produce a trauma leading to PTSD. In addition, common symptoms can make it even more difficult to diagnose each condition.

http://telemedicinenews.blogspot.com/2011/08/dod-va-addressing-unseen-wounds.html

VA Medical Center Gears Up To Treat Women Veterans

Women play a growing role in the military. They now make up 14 percent of those on active duty. Inevitably, that means more veterans will be women -- already they make up almost 8 percent of the veteran population. The VA Medical Center in San Diego is going though a cultural shift to adapt to its new patients.

The corridors of the VA Medical center in La Jolla are always bustling, but Jennifer Roberts, the VA’s first full-time program manager for women veterans, says you’ll see a lot more women in them nowadays.

“When you see a woman walking in the hall, “ Roberts said, “you don’t just assume that they’re a care giver, they could be the veteran themselves.”

Roberts said the number of female veterans coming to the VA Medical Center for health care has increased 25 percent in the last two years.

ALISON ST JOHN, Senior Metro Reporter


http://www.kpbs.org/news/2011/aug/18/va-medical-center-gears-treat-women-veterans/

Caring for Those with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Does your wounded warrior…

• Have difficulty sleeping or suffer from nightmares?
• Have unwanted memories or thoughts?
• Suffer from anxiety and panic attacks?
• Become irritable or angry or express violent behavior?
• Use alcohol or drugs to cope with stress?
• Feel scared or confused?
• Have trouble managing daily activities?

If so, he or she may be experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many survivors of a traumatic event return to normal with time, whereas others take longer to heal—these individuals may develop PTSD.

http://www.extension.org/pages/60179/caring-for-those-with-posttraumatic-stress-disorder

After trauma, teaching hope

(CNN) -- The number of young men and women from the U.S. Army who committed suicide last month was so devastatingly high that it set a dismal new record.

About two-thirds of the 32 dead were active-duty soldiers; the rest were reservists. And like all riptides of tragedy, news of the deaths of bright young people with lives of promise stretched out before them has thrown many off balance.

"People think of us in the Army as these super-beings in uniform. But they forget that we are a direct reflection of American society," said Maj. Juanita Chang. "And everything you have going on in society -- good and bad -- you are going to have those in the Army, too. Like everyone else, we are black and brown and white. We are worried about the economy, politics and jobs crisis. And sometimes we have problems coping, like everyone else.

"People forget that, I think, but it's important to remember that we live in stressful times."

The human response to extreme stress and adversity is bell-shaped, according to Dr. Marty Seligman, professor of psychology and director of the Positive Psychology Center at University of Pennsylvania.

By Amanda Enayati
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/17/resilience.after.trauma/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Military steps up effort to detect brain injury

FORT CARSON, Colo. - A group of infantry just back from Afghanistan sat down before computers at Fort Carson and began answering a series of questions:

Were you wounded? Did you lose consciousness or get knocked out? Were you dazed, confused, or seeing stars?

The questionnaire is part of a battery of tests and interviews to identify soldiers who suffered even mild brain injuries that might go undetected. It's part of a broader military campaign to treat tens of thousands of war veterans with traumatic brain injuries, often caused by roadside bombs, a favorite weapon of insurgents.

Since 2000, nearly 213,000 U.S. servicemen and women have suffered injuries ranging from concussions to something penetrating the brain, the military says. Well more than half, or about 121,700, were Army soldiers.


By DAN ELLIOTT

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=20110815_13_A10_ULNSpB651877

New PTSD Test Successfully Predicts Who Will Develop Condition

Newswise — DANVILLE, Pa. – A new post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prediction tool, developed by Geisinger Health System researchers, is simple to administer and appears to outperform other screening methods, according to new findings published electronically in the August issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

After collecting information from more than 2,300 adults following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Joseph Boscarino, Ph.D., MPH, senior investigator II, Geisinger Health System, and his co-investigators, including Charles Figley, Ph.D., Tulane University, examined the clinical factors that could predict PTSD. These included stressor exposures, psychosocial resources, functional status, depression symptoms, suicidal thoughts, PTSD symptoms and demographics. This was done to identify the best PTSD prediction models.

From these analyses, the team developed a simple 10-item prediction tool, the New York PTSD Risk Score, which included core PTSD symptoms, depression symptoms, healthcare status, sleep disturbance and trauma history. Findings show the tool is highly successful in predicting PTSD following traumatic exposures in different clinical populations, including a sample of chronic pain outpatients and a sample of Level I trauma patients discharged from Geisinger Clinic.

New PTSD Test Successfully Predicts Who Will Develop Condition

Giffords' recovery renews focus on coverage gap for veterans

WASHINGTON — From the critical moments after she suffered a gunshot wound to the head in January to her triumphant return to Congress last week for a vote on the debt limit deal, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords owes her recovery in no small part to veterans with similar injuries.

Doctors and rehabilitation specialists have learned a great deal from the treatment of traumatic brain injuries in combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. One in five veterans of those wars has suffered some form of traumatic brain injury, most commonly concussions from roadside bombs.

Yet veterans' health care doesn't consistently cover cognitive rehabilitation therapy, the same therapy that's helped Giffords and other well-known figures - such as Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota and ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff - get their lives back to normal after major brain traumas.

"If we fail to give people the tools they need to do that, then we've shut them out of society," said Susan Connors, the president of the Brain Injury Association of America.

BY CURTIS TATE

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/08/11/3283566/giffords-recovery-renews-focus.html

W Family Focus Friday: Preparing Children For Deployment

Although children’s reactions will vary with their personalities and ages, a parent’s deployment will almost always be puzzling to children. Parents wonder how the separation will affect their children and how they can help them through this time. The deploying parent wonders how they can continue to be a good parent while they are away; the stay-home parent worries about handling added responsibility.

Part 1 of the series, Preparing Children for Deployment,provides steps and activities that prepare your children for the absence of a parent — no matter what that parent’s branch of service may be. The tips are designed to help parents and children connect by building trust and cooperation within the family.

Written on AUGUST 12, 2011 AT 8:30 AM by JTOZER

http://www.dodlive.mil/index.php/2011/08/family-focus-friday-preparing-children-for-deployment-part-1/

Vets Aren't Victims

Vets aren't victims.

Like many people of Celtic descent, I don't just have a temper – I have an Irish temper. (Hooray genetic enablers that double as rationalizations!) And one of the things that consistently stokes those mind-flames is the “vets are victims” fallacy.

We volunteered. In some cases, we volunteered because we wanted to go to war. That's not a concept American society as a whole is very comfortable with, because the sharper edges of warrior culture contrast so stridently with postindustrial societal norms. Killing is bad. (Unless those being killed are worse). Rough men are uncivilized and coarse. (Until they're needed). And service members are heroes best celebrated en masse and in the abstract, because veterans by themselves and in the flesh have, you know. Issues.

The latest numbers for Iraq and Afghanistan vets aren't pretty. Over 12 percent are unemployed, which translates to roughly 232,000 people in real numbers. The public sector has taken notice of this, as evidenced by President Obama's just announced New Veterans' Employment Initiative. But enacting things like the proposed tax credits for hiring returning veterans will take a unified effort in Capitol Hill – something that seems a bit unlikely right now.

A suicide epidemic continues to plague the military community, with 468 suicides occurring in 2010 – more than died in combat. Those are just military numbers too, since the VA (of which only about half of Iraq and Afghanistan vets are enrolled) doesn't track cause of death.

And, really, these are just the tip of the iceberg – we all need to remember that as these wars wind down, the military will likely downsize, as it usually does in postwar periods. A new surge of veterans will be coming home in the next couple years. That guy with the muscles and tattoos in the black tee shirt in the back of your local bar? He's spent 30 or so months in a combat zone and has a lot more to offer the community than just war stories, though even he may not know that yet.


Read more: http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/08/10/vets-arent-victims/#ixzz1UpDJzMAU

Posted by Matt Gallagherhttp://battleland.blogs.time.com/2011/08/10/vets-arent-victims/

Female Veterans Breaking Silence, Beating Trauma

During a military mission in Afghanistan this weekend, a U.S. helicopter came under fire, crashing and killing eight Afghans and 30 U.S. servicemen. Twenty-two of the casualties were Navy SEALs.

Families are still trying to process the weekend's loss and deal with mental and emotional fallout from the nation's wars. And women have it particularly tough.

Significantly more women have served in the U.S. military in recent years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Many of these women suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and other issues after their service ends.

U.S. Air Force veteran Lisa Bolling has survived military trauma, returned to a home on the streets, and is now coping with PTSD.

by AMY TA


http://www.npr.org/2011/08/08/139021309/women-veterans-breaking-silence-beating-trauma

Homeless female vets on rise: Group presents specific challenges to shelters, VA hospitals

They joined for adventure and opportunity, and to escape what they feared could be a dead-end life.

They signed up with the military because times were changing and women were being encouraged to serve. 

They were promised a college education and a career path.

After a while -- after failed relationships, the birth of children, personal tragedy and substance abuse -- armed forces veterans Sandra Perkins and Catherine Premo found it increasingly difficult to find a job

Then they had no roof over their heads.

Now they are living at Crisis Ministries, Charleston's homeless shelter.

Perkins, 54, and Premo, 56, are among a growing number of homeless female veterans turning up at shelters and VA hospitals around the country, and they present specific challenges to service providers.

Women account for 3 percent to 4 percent of the national population of homeless vets, which can number about 200,000 on any given night, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

The Department of Veterans Affairs also said it expects the number of homeless female veterans to rise dramatically in years to come.

Homelessness tends to afflict veterans some years after they have left the military, according to Crisis

Ministries and VA officials. Women today make up 14.5 percent of active-duty military personnel and nearly 20 percent of the Reserve and National Guard, according to the Department of Defense.

Though a few women, using male pseudonyms, participated in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, it wasn't until the 20th century that women began to play a more critical -- and official -- role in the military.

BY ADAM PARKER
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/08/homeless-female-vets-on-rise/

Helping veterans recover is essential

Ingham County law enforcement officials have done their best by a veteran suffering the psychological after-effects of combat duty. That's an accomplishment that should give them and the entire community a sense of pride.

Brad Eifert, the Army veteran in question, was sentenced last week by Judge David Jordon to 24 months probation and ordered to participate in a treatment program for post traumatic stress disorder.

PTSD is a growing problem among returning veterans. Ingham County is fortunate to be in the first wave of communities to adopt a special veterans' court that works to assist veterans who may have psychological scars from their time in service.

Eifert, many will recall, was involved in a standoff with Meridian Township police officers last August. He had sent his family away from home and took firearms into the surrounding woods. Officers arrived on the scene and it became a tense nighttime standoff.

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110808/OPINION01/108080313/Helping-veterans-recover-essential?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

Obama unveils major jobs initiative for vets - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

President Obama wants to use employer tax credits to help veterans, especially disabled veterans, get jobs in a tough economy.

His proposal, which will require congressional approval, would provide a tax credit to employers of up to $9,600 for hiring a veteran with a service-connected disability who has been unemployed for six months or longer and a $4,800 tax credit for hiring a veteran who has no disability but has been unemployed for at least six months, White House officials said.

Obama also is pressing private businesses to support a program that will hire or train up to 100,000 veterans by 2013 and is ordering the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department to come up with a better transition program for separating service members to help them locate and qualify for post-service jobs.

The Labor Department also will expand services for veterans, including job coaching and other help preparing for jobs.

The new initiatives come at a time when more than 1 million Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans are unemployed and the U.S. economy is creating few jobs.

While House officials said the unemployment rate for people who have left the military since 2001 is now 11.6 percent, a sign that current programs are insufficient.

“A lot of good work has been done,” said a White House official, “but we feel it is not enough.”

The White House is not working in isolation; two comprehensive veterans’ employment packages are pending in Congress that also aim to provide more help to job-hunting veterans, though there is a growing feeling that something more dramatic may be needed.

If no jobs are available for anyone — and that’s what is happening in a weak economy with businesses reluctant to hire — then programs to better help separating troops translate their military-learned skills and experience into a new job are not much help, said a representative from a major veterans group who ask not to be identified because he must work closely with the White House and Congress on veterans’ related legislation.

By Rick Maze

Obama unveils major jobs initiative for vets - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Welcoming Our Veterans Home – Unseen Injuries And The Power Of Community

It takes a community to welcome home the warrior

The community must be whole and well for the welcome to be effective

War-related trauma affects everyone who serves, not just those with direct combat experience. Its shockwaves radiate across individual, family, community and culture; body, mind, and spirit. Repeated trauma can unravel veterans’ connections with their families, peers, and communities – as well as within themselves. The community plays a critically important role in repairing and renewing broken connections.

The Coming Home Project is a San Francisco-based non-profit 501(c)(3) organization committed to alleviating the unseen injuries of war faced by veterans and their families. We promote wellbeing across the deployment cycle and provide support for successful reintegration into civilian life. Coming Home builds a living community where veterans come together to reintegrate with their families, peers, and communities – and within themselves. At our residential retreats, they share stories, struggles and accomplishments, practice meditation, yoga and qigong, enjoy expressive arts like journaling and movement, and recreational activities like kayaking and hiking, as they connect with services and resources in their communities, all in beautiful, serene settings. Our workshops are not psychotherapy, but they are therapeutic. Driven by peer support, they are facilitated by experienced psychotherapists, trained veterans, family members, and chaplains.

We also provide self-care retreats and resilience training for healthcare providers who serve veterans and in military treatment facilities such as Walter Reed and VA’s around the country. These programs alleviate and prevent burnout and compassion fatigue, helping to ensure continuity of services

By: Craig Newmark
http://govinthelab.com/welcoming-our-veterans-home-%E2%80%93-unseen-injuries-and-the-power-of-community/

Vets with PTSD, government reach settlement

WASHINGTON -- More than a thousand Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder would be given lifetime disability retirement benefits such as military health insurance 

under the terms of a settlement reached between the government and the veterans.

Attorneys for the veterans, the Justice Department and the military jointly filed a motion on Thursday that spelled out the terms. The settlement must be approved by a judge to be final.

It also affects another thousand veterans who already had lifetime retirement benefits, but would receive a higher disability rating from the military. All of the veterans affected by the settlement would potentially receive new monthly disability compensation.

The settlement stems from a 2008 class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington by veterans unable to serve, at least in part, because of the anxiety disorder who said they were illegally denied benefits.

The law requires the military to give a disability rating of at least 50 percent to troops discharged for PTSD, but each of the plaintiffs received a disability less than that, said Bart Stichman, co-executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a nonprofit organization that represented the veterans.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3802823/vets-with-ptsd-government-reach.html#ixzz1U0BckKkJ

By KIMBERLY HEFLING
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/29/3802823/vets-with-ptsd-government-reach.html

Study pairs military veterans and shelter dogs to ease transition home

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Of the 2 million United States Service members that have been in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it’s estimated that up to 50 percent experience combat-related issues ranging from substance abuse to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Now, a University of Missouri professor is conducting a unique study that will give military veterans a “training buddy” to help them cope while helping shelter dogs become more adoptable.

The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine’s Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) has been supported and funded through a series of grants from Mars Petcare (the WALTHAM Foundation, PEDIGREE Foundation and Banfield Charitable Trust) and the MU Research Board, to conduct a study of the mutual benefit of veterans training shelter dogs. Researchers hope this partnership between man and animal will make the dogs better family members and assist the veterans’ adjustment after returning home.

“Health professionals are seeing increasing reports of combat-related stress in returning veterans,” said Rebecca Johnson, director of ReCHAI and associate professor for the MU Sinclair School of Nursing and College of Veterinary Medicine. “This study benefits both ends of the leash, because we know that interaction with animals relieves stress and lessens symptoms of depression and anxiety. Not only will veterans help dogs exercise and receive necessary training, but the dogs will potentially provide stress relief for the veterans.”

The three-phased study, which started in early 2011, will be conducted in two locations in Missouri, namely Columbia and Springfield over a two-year period. Veterans are learning to train dogs in basic obedience in the first phase of the program. In phase two, veterans will be mentors to families who adopt shelter dogs. In phase three, the best of the trained dogs will be trained as PTSD service dogs to work with soldiers who need this assistance.

http://www.news-record.com/blog/60759/entry/123658

Cost of Treating Veterans Will Rise Long Past Wars

WASHINGTON — Though the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan will save the nation billions of dollars a year, another cost of war is projected to continue rising for decades to come: caring for the veterans.

By one measure, the cost of health care and disability compensation for veterans from those conflicts and all previous American wars ranks among the largest for the federal government — less than the military, Social Security and health care programs including Medicare, but nearly the same as paying interest on the national debt, the Treasury Department says.

Ending the current wars will not lower those veterans costs; indeed, they will rise ever more steeply for decades to come as the population of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan expands, ages and becomes more infirm. To date, more than 2.2 million troops have served in those wars.

Studies show that the peak years for government health care and disability compensation costs for veterans from past wars came 30 to 40 years after those wars ended. For Vietnam, that peak has not been reached.

In Washington, the partisan stalemate over cutting federal spending is now raising alarms among veterans groups and some lawmakers that the seemingly inexorable costs of veterans benefits will spur a backlash against those programs.

BY James Dao
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/28veterans.html?_r=2