21.2% & 16.1%
The prevalence of opioid prescribing in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) in 2012 and 2016 respectively, according to a recent study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine -- Decline in Prescription Opioids Attributable to Decreases in Long-Term Use: A Retrospective Study in the Veterans Health Administration 2010–2016.
Welcome to this week’s edition of CDP News! We like to use this space to review recent happenings in and around the Center for Deployment Psychology, while also looking ahead to upcoming events. It was a short week, due to the holiday, but we’ve still got lots to cover.
The weekly research update contains the latest news, journal articles and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Exploring cross-lagged associations between spiritual struggles and risk for suicidal behavior in a community sample of military Veterans.
● Loneliness is closely associated with depression outcomes and suicidal ideation among military Veterans in primary care.
● Trial of Prazosin for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Military Veterans.
If you have ever worked with a combat Veteran, at some point you have heard frustration from both the Veteran and family members about their communication specific to details about combat experiences. I was recently listening to a patient of mine with this common problem, and he put it very well – “I should tell my wife everything. But I don’t…. I can’t. It is too much to pile on her, and it would hurt her. So I don’t. I push her away instead, block her questions out so my pain won’t be her pain.” Listening to him, and all the others with similar statements, always seems to take me back to the first time I explained this issue with a patient and his family.
Welcome to this week’s edition of CDP News! We like to use this space to review recent happenings in and around the Center for Deployment Psychology, while also looking ahead to upcoming events.