Disorders

The Center for Deployment Psychology offers instruction on a variety of topics. Click on the pages below for a brief summary of these topics, as well as links to related resources. (If you're signed into your Provider Community account, you'll have access to even more available resources.)

Some of the topics that CDP-led instruction addresses include:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
 
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): PTSD is the most common psychiatric consequence of trauma exposure. It is an array of psychological and physiological reactions that are expected, normal responses, but that persist beyond a normal period of recovery.
Depression
 
Depression: Depression is one of the world's top public health problems, affecting approximately 7% to 12% of men and 20%-25% of women across their lifetime. In Veterans seeking care at VA hospitals, depression presents at around 25%.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI)
 

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): Mild Traumatic Brain Injury has been labeled the "signature" injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This has thrust the identification and treatment of mTBIs to the vanguard of concerns for the military healthcare community.

Suicide in the Military
 
Military Suicide: Historically, suicide rates have been lower in the military than those rates found in the general public. However, with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, military suicide rates have been increasing and surpassing the rates for society at large. Suicide has become the first leading cause of death for female Veterans and the second leading for male Veterans.
Chronic Pain
 

Chronic Pain: Service members face unique challenges in coping with chronic pain, including role loss, the psychological impact of combat and negotiating the limited duty/profile/medical board process. Many mental health providers do have have specialized training in treating chronic pain and instead focus only on the emotional issues that patients experience. However, there are a number of effective psychological interventions that target pain directly.

Military Sexual Assault
 
Military Sexual Assualt (MSA): MSA has numerous psychological consequences due to the nature of the trauma with and emphasis on the trauma context. Service members have been violated within a small community by someone who should be ultimately trustworthy. This violation is completely incompatible with the independent and self-sufficient spirit Service members need to thrive in the military.