Blog posts with the tag "Guest Perspective"

Guest Perspective: Deployment, Mental Health Conditions and Psychotropic Medications – Good to Go?

By James C. West  on 19.04.2016 12:32 pm

Although the pace of deployment has decreased in recent years, military members continue to deploy to combat zones and other areas around the globe.  Behavioral health providers who serve a military population are well aware of the ebbs and flows of stresses on military members and their families around deployment cycles.  Modern evidence-based care includes use of appropriate psychotherapies and medications to treat major depressive disorder, PTSD, and other deployment-related conditions.  In addition to providing good care, it is important to consider the compatibility of treatments with future deployments.  The following article will discuss the concepts of deployment-limiting conditions and the impact of psychotropic medications on deploy ability.

Guest Perspective: Employment - Another Tool to Help Your Veteran Clients

By Nathan D. Ainspan  on 12.04.2016 12:08 pm

It should not surprise you to hear that employment is critical for good mental health and can even be part of the treatment for your clients who may have mental health issues. Even though you are not a career counselor, you can still have an enormous impact on your Veteran clients by helping them in their search for post-military employment. This blog will outline the mental health benefits of employment and explain why you should consider integrating the issue of employment into your repertoire of tools for helping your clients. It then suggests how you can help your Veteran clients with their search for employment and lists resources that you can use with them.

Guest Perspective: Solving Problems Can Enhance Resilience and Improve Adjustment

By Arthur Nezu,  on 05.04.2016 1:37 pm

While conducting workshops for decades around the world for many different types of individuals, both professionals and laypeople, the answer to the question I frequently pose to attendees—“Who here had a week recently devoid of problems?” leads consistently to an absence of raised hands. We all have problems—some small, and unfortunately at times, some being quite overwhelming. Based on this common sense consensus, we would all further agree that it is not abnormal or unusual to have problems. 

Guest Perspective: Sleep Problems in Veterans and Service Members

By Phillip Gehrman  on 29.03.2016 12:34 pm

When I was finishing up my clinical training on internship, I was co-leading a therapy group for WWII Veterans who had all been POWs while in theater. Here it was over 50 years since their military service and they all had the same complaint; they had not been able to get a good night of sleep since that time.  This is unfortunately a common problem for Veterans and active duty Service members.  There have now been several studies reporting high rates of sleep problems, in particular insomnia and nightmares.  

Guest Perspective: Understanding and Treating Traumatic Brain Injury

By Alison Cernich  on 22.03.2016 12:30 pm

A U.S. Veteran, I’ll call him Steve, walked into my office following his third and final military deployment. He was referred to me for an evaluation of a potential traumatic brain injury (TBI). As a member of an artillery unit, traveling across Iraq in convoys, Steve, who is a composite, not an actual person, witnessed many deaths and injuries; he felt lucky to have returned safely home without significant limitations, other than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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