Over the past year I’ve taught multiple workshops on “CBT for Depression in the Military” to both uniformed and civilian providers, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that participants are often unfamiliar with the general structure of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions.
Several years ago I attended a workshop taught by David Rudd on managing suicidal patients in which he discussed former Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain as an example of someone who exhibited significant risk factors and warning signs for suicide. Recently, while reviewing materials for the two-day Suicide Prevention workshop I was struck by how often Thomas Joiner also mentions Cobain to illustrate his Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. In the references of Joiner’s book, Why People Die by Suicide (2005) he cites Charles Cross’s biography of Kurt Cobain, Heavier than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain, (2001). I decided to gain a better understanding of how Rudd and Joiner’s theories might look in a real person I should read Heavier than Heaven.
In my role at the Center for Deployment Psychology (CDP), I was recently asked about transitioning from military service to civilian life. The specific question asked was how case managers can identify a normal reaction to mourning the loss of identity due to leaving military service versus behavior that could be indicative of a clinical problem/disorder. I think it is a great question and one that many case managers, providers, and even Service members may have.
Using virtual reality to help assist in the treatment of PTSD is nothing new. There have been numerous efforts to simulate stressful situations from the safety of a therapist’s office, including the Virtual Iraq program, the T2 Virtual PTSD Experience in Second Life by the National Institute of Telehealth and Technology and several others.