Deployment Psychology Blog

Staff Voices - Halfofus.com - A Veterans at School Resource Site

For those looking to understand the first-person experience of a veteran returning to college, the website Half of Us is an outstanding resource containing dozens of video snippets of interviews of returning vets at school. The website, funded and designed in collaboration by the JED Foundation and MTV U, aims to educate and enlighten students on campus regarding subjects as diverse as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and sexual orientation. Included in the Half of Us web site is an extensive area devoted to veterans on campus.

September 28, 2012: CDP News

Time to wrap up the week with the latest batch of news from around the CDP. This week we finished up the September edition of our eight-day "Topics in Deployment Psychology" training here in Bethesda. We'd like to thank all of our participants and presenters for making it a big success. Now it's time to start getting ready for the next session scheduled for the 3rd-12th of December!

Next Saturday, Oct. 6, Dr. Dave Riggs, Executive Director of the CDP, will be speaking in New York City for the Penn State Hershey College of Medicine. He will deliver an overview of PTSD. For more information, visit the site at:http://pennstatehershey.org/web/ce/home/programs/socialworkers.

September 27, 2012: Research Update

The CDP's weekly research update contains the latest news, journal articles and useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
• Teaching Evidence-Based Approaches to Suicide Risk Assessment and Prevention that Enhance Psychiatric Training.
• Problems in Applying Diagnostic Concepts of PTSD and Trauma in the Middle East.

Staff Voices - Hope and PTSD Treatment

Some time ago I was in a family’s living room talking to a group who had come to the US as war refugees. Many had been tortured before fleeing their homeland, before finding safe haven in the US. I had been invited there to talk about PTSD and effective treatment. Many in the room likely suffered with the disorder, but if so, called it “nervousness” and referred to themselves or those with the problem as, “he’s crazy now…too bad.”

The horrors of war, the deaths, imprisonment and torture leave an indelible mark on the human psyche. PTSD, however, a psychiatric diagnosis, does not have to be part of the lingering legacy of war. That was the main point of my talk…and to share resources for help.

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