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. We’ve been busy this week, since next week will be shortened by Memorial Day on Monday.
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:
● PTSD and Families: PTSD Monthly Update, May 2016
● Combat & Operational Stress Research Quarterly, Winter 2016
We’re heading to the end of May, but before we get there, we wanted to take the time to spotlight that this is Mental Health Awareness Month. With the increased societal awareness, the stigma around Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other behavioral health concerns has decreased, but it is certainly very much still in existence. Due to this, events like Mental Health Awareness Month are still very necessary to increase the knowledge of both the issues faced and the resources available to those in need.
On December 8th, 2015, Dictionary.com announced that the Word of the Year was Identity, partly because of the expanding conversations about gender identity. The news stood out to me because 2015 was a year I learned a lot from working with transgender patients.
80%
The percentage of military personnel ("members of the Uniformed Services") who "exit their service before 20 years," thus leaving with no retirement benefits, according to a recent DOD report to Congress -- Blended Retirement System: Report to Congress – Implementation Plan for Modernizing the Military Retirement System (PDF). To ameliorate this situation, the Fiscal Year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act mandates that the Secretaries of the Uniformed Services submit to Congress "plans to implement a modernized retirement system effective January 1, 2018."