December often evokes a sense of nostalgia, bringing with it cherished childhood memories of family, friends, abundant food, and holiday music, like hearing Silent Night by the Temptations on indefinite repeat. However, for others, the holiday season presents a painful contrast—a constant reminder of losses and distant voices reflecting what is no longer there.
When we think about alcohol or substance abuse in the military, most of us jump to familiar explanations: PTSD, deployment trauma, combat stress. These are the headline drivers we expect to see on intake forms and clinical assessments. But lurking quietly, often unnoticed and unspoken, is another powerful risk factor, one that rarely makes it onto the paperwork or into clinical interviews: boredom.
I was recently talking to a civilian community mental health provider, and she asked me if I thought veterans were utilizing mental health care more due to both the VA MISSION Act and the VA COMPACT Act. I thought about it briefly and responded (acknowledging that I had no evidence to support my answer) that it usually takes years for change following laws like these. Then I paused to really think about how much I have heard about either of these veteran-focused acts/laws in my role as a psychologist or as a veteran, and the answer was: not much. So I thought this would be a great topic to share with our community of providers.
3x
The factor by which younger veterans were more likely to screen positive for PTSD compared to older veterans, according to an article in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry -- Identifying Factors Linked to a Higher Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Younger US Military Veterans.
I saw technology grow by leaps and bounds while growing up. Aside from my dislike of social media, I've never felt that I had an aversion to technology - that is until AI came around. Maybe it's from watching one too many dystopian sci-fi movies, but AI just makes me uncomfortable. So I tried to delay using AI as long as possible, but the more USU talked about its benefits, and with some very strong encouragement from my supervisor, I begrudgingly began trying to use Google Gemini