Deployment Psychology Blog

Staff Perspective: LGB History in Psychology and the Military (Part 1)

Sharon Birman, Psy.D.

Hi! I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself.  My name is Sharon Ela Hana Birman; not many people know I have two middle names.  I am middle child with one older brother and one younger brother.  I am an aunt to a beautiful little girl named Abigail.  I own a little white dog – he weighs 3 lbs, but makes up for his small size with his big personality.  I work as a Clinical Psychologist and love my job.  Oh yeah…. And I am straight. 

By the Numbers - Aug. 1, 2016

62.1%

The percentage of a group of 2,157 U.S. veterans participating in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study who "reported experiencing difficulties controlling anger," according to an article published online before print in the journalPsychiatry Research -- The Burden of Hostility in U.S. Veterans: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study.  Additionally, the researchers reported that "a sizable minority of veterans (23.9%) reported experiencing aggressive urges over a two-year period."

CDP News: July 29, 2016

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’re heading into the final month of the summer and getting ready for a busy fall with plenty of events, both face-to-face and virtual.

Research Update: July 28, 2016

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:

● Clinician’s Trauma Update (June 2016)
● Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in U.S. Military Primary Care: Trajectories and Predictors of One-Year Prognosis.

Staff Perspective: Pondering the question of prescribed cannabis use and the potential effect on Trauma and Stressor-Related treatment (Part 1)

Frequently, in the past couple of years a question has emerged regarding how to handle a very specific situation in mental health treatment.  That situation is what to do when a patient appropriate for PTSD treatment is also taking medicinal grade prescription cannabis for other issues such as chronic pain, anxiety or insomnia.  What makes this question unique from the issue of any substance use/abuse during mental health treatment is the unknown quality of this substance.  For instance, if a patient states they drink 2-3 glasses of wine approximately 3 nights a week, we have a good idea of how this substance use may affect their ability to process cognitions and emotions.  However, with cannabis there are many questions.

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