Thousands of American service members are returning from their tours of duty with physical and/or psychological disabilities. Many—if not most—of these service members will need at least some assistance to adapt to their disabilities and learn how to reintegrate back into civilian life. Also impacted will be the spouse, friends, employers, family members, counselors, and community members of each veteran with a disability. The veterans may not be aware of the ways in which their disabilities are impacting them, nor knowledgeable about the resources available to help them cope. In addition, many such individuals feel isolated and reluctant to acknowledge their difficulties or ask for assistance. The volume compiles and summarizes the information disabled veterans and those with whom they interact will be interested in knowing and using. It describes how disabilities can impact an individual physically, psychologically, and spiritually. It also provides a context of these disabilities to reassure the readers that they are not alone in the thoughts, feelings, and pain, and that others have experienced the same problems and found solutions. The work provides guidance on different forms of treatment that may help the veteran and includes a list of contact information for local VA centers, peer-to-peer counseling services, and other programs, services, and individuals available (frequently for free) for veterans and their families. Brief biographies of disabled veterans and case studies of the ways they reintegrated back into civilian society provide support and perspective. In addition to aiding veterans, the book will serve as a useful reference source for librarians and other information providers.

The surprising story of the Army’s efforts to combat PTSD and traumatic brain injury The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a tremendous toll on the mental health of our troops. In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama took to the Senate floor to tell his colleagues that “many of our injured soldiers are returning from Iraq with traumatic brain injury,” which doctors were calling the “signature wound” of the Iraq War. Alarming stories of veterans taking their own lives raised a host of vital questions: Why hadn’t the military been better prepared to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI)? Why were troops being denied care and sent back to Iraq? Why weren’t the Army and the VA doing more to address these issues? Drawing on previously unreleased documents and oral histories, David Kieran tells the broad and nuanced story of the Army’s efforts to understand and address these issues, challenging the popular media view that the Iraq War was mismanaged by a callous military unwilling to address the human toll of the wars. The story of mental health during this war is the story of how different groups—soldiers, veterans and their families, anti-war politicians, researchers and clinicians, and military leaders—approached these issues from different perspectives and with different agendas. It is the story of how the advancement of medical knowledge moves at a different pace than the needs of an Army at war, and it is the story of how medical conditions intersect with larger political questions about militarism and foreign policy. This book shows how PTSD, TBI, and suicide became the signature wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, how they prompted change within the Army itself, and how mental health became a factor in the debates about the impact of these conflicts on US culture.

The military imposes unique and often severe challenges to couples, which clinicians – particularly the growing numbers of civilian clinicians who see military couples – often struggle to address. These problems are only compounded by misunderstandings and misconceptions about what it means to be part of a specific branch of the military and part of the military as a whole. Handbook of Counseling Military Couples includes a clear, thorough introduction to military culture and to couple relationships in the military. But more than that, it provides readers with expert analyses of the special types of issues that come up for military couples and shows clinicians how to address them productively. In the chapters, readers will find the answers to questions such as how are military couples’ rights different from those of civilians? What attitudes and beliefs about relationships might military members bring to a session, and how are those different from those of civilians? What is the state of marriage and divorce in each of the branches and within the military in general? For a particular treatment modality, how does research in with military members compare to that of civilians? When should particular treatment strategies be used, and why – and how?

Nearly two million soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have been deployed in recent conflicts. When the Warrior Returns addresses the practical and psychological needs of the families of these transitioning service members and provides a convenient list of key resources. Combining the knowledge of fifty experts, the book provides answers to questions about the post-deployment transition process, how it affects families, and how family members can help their service members and themselves navigate the transition successfully as a family. These experts provide straightforward answers to questions about the transition process and how it impacts the warrior and their children. A one-stop source of information filled with useful advice, this book is unequalled. The book features a foreword by Patty Shinseki and is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army.

The United States is in the midst of the largest military demobilization in its history. This is leading to an increase in the demand for mental health clinicians who can provide services to hundreds of thousands of military veterans and members of the military. Nearly two million Americans have been deployed to the wars in the Middle East, and thousands of them have been deeply affected, either psychologically, physically, or both. Projections suggest that 300,000 are returning with symptoms of PTSD or major Depression; 320,000 have been exposed to probable Traumatic Brain Injuries; and hundreds of thousands are dealing with psychological effects of physical injuries. Other veterans and members of the military without injuries will seek treatment to help them with the psychological impact of serving in the military, being deployed, or transitioning and reintegrating back into the civilian world. As an example, hundreds of thousands of service members are also leaving the armed forces earlier than they anticipated and will need to quickly adjust to life as civilians after assuming that they would have many more years in the military. Many will be leaving the military because of demobilizations and downsizing due to budget cuts. Current proposed cuts will shrink the military force to the same size it was in 1940. The Pew Center reports that 44% of veterans from the current wars are describing their readjustment to civilian life as difficult, and many of them are and will be turning to civilian mental health and primary care clinicians for assistance. The Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Veterans and Service Members is a one stop handbook for non-military clinicians working with service members, veterans, and their families. It brings together experts from the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, veteran service organizations, and academia to create the first comprehensive guidebook for civilian clinicians. In addition to covering psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD, this book also offers information about psychosocial topics that impact military personnel and their loved ones and can become part of treatment (e.g., employment or education options, financial matters, and parenting concerns), providing the most recent and cutting-edge research on the topics. Chapters are concise and practical, delivering the key information necessary to orient clinicians to the special needs of veterans and their families. The Handbook of Psychosocial Interventions for Veterans and Service Members is an essential resource for private practice mental health clinicians and primary care physicians, as well as a useful adjunct for VA and DOD psychologists and staff.

The Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology describes the critical link between psychology and military activity. The extensive coverage includes topics in of clinical, industrial/organizational, experimental, engineering, and social psychology. The contributors are leading international experts in military psychology.