Deployment Psychology Blog

Staff Perspective: Around the Web - 8 May 2019

We're going to mix things up a bit this week. Instead of our usual one topic, we're going to take a quick look at a series of relevant stories from around the web. The articles we'll be looking are:

  • Prolonged exposure therapy is more effective in treating veterans with PTSD, alcohol use disorder
  • Virtual Reality as Therapy for Pain
  • Frustrations mount over lack of progress on preventing veterans’ suicide

By the Numbers: 6 May 2019

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Rank of the Armed Forces among professions regarding the number of days per year spent drinking, according to a study by Delphi Behavioral Health Group -- Drinking Habits by Industry. The study, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Heath Interview Survey, reports that members of the Armed Forces consumed alcohol on 130 days of the year, 39 days above the consumption of an average person in the U.S, which is 91 days. 

CDP News: 3 May 2019

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. It's May and it's shaping up to be a busy summer!

Research Update: 2 May 2019

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The weekly Research Update contains the latest news, journal articles, useful links from around the web. Some of this week's topics include:
● Clinician's Trauma Update Online (April 2019)
● Subtypes of Mental Health Stigma and Barriers to Care Among National Guard Personnel: Results of a Latent Class Analysis.
● Provider perspectives on choosing prolonged exposure of cognitive processing therapy for PTSD: A national investigation of VA residential treatment providers.
● Effectiveness and Acceptability of Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Staff Perspective: Two Weeks in Australia - A Memoir on Mitigating Jet Lag and Feeding Kangaroos

Carin Lefkowitz, Psy.D.

I don’t have to tell you that jet lag can impact the first few days of travel, regardless of whether you’re on vacation or a deployment, and even if you’re only traveling through a couple of different time zones. Many of our physical and cognitive functions are regulated by our circadian rhythm, including alertness, logical reasoning, and appetite (Kryger, Roth, & Dement, 2016). So symptoms associated with jet lag – grogginess, mood changes, fatigue – result from a systemic mismatch between our personal circadian rhythm and the local time. In general, it takes about one day to adjust to each hour of time change when traveling across time zones. However, a recent trip to Australia, which is (on average) 16 hours ahead of my Eastern US time zone, would take some serious adjustments ahead of time.

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