Deployment Psychology Blog

Research Update: January 17, 2013

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:

• Means and capacity for suicidal behavior: A comparison of the ratio of suicide attempts and deaths by suicide in the US military and general population.
• What are the Contrindications for Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD; A Case Report.
• Prevalence and Characteristics of Military Malingering.
• Group Therapy Among OEF/OIF Veterans: Treatment Barriers and Preferences.

Staff Voices: Can PTSD Be Treated with Yoga?

I recently came across a Huffington Post article written by David Wood describing the practice of yoga and its benefits for service members in the military struggling with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  When asked to describe effective treatments for PTSD, I often speak about Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).  So, it's no surprise that this concept of treating PTSD with yoga caught my attention.

By the Numbers - January 14, 2013

39.4%

The decrease in "(d)irect costs associated with mental health care" among a group of "70 veterans who completed prolonged exposure or cognitive processing therapy at a Midwestern VA medical center," according to an article in the January issue of Military Medicine -- Service Utilization Following Participation in Cognitive Processing Therapy or Prolonged Exposure Therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

CDP News: January 11, 2013

Happy Friday everyone! Once again we're here to wrap up the week with the latest happenings in and around CDP. The holidays are over and we're back on the road training at locations around the country. It's a busy time for our University Counseling Center Core Competency (UC4) program, which is just how we like it!  Our brand new UC4-e program kicked off with a session at San Diego State University yesterday and today. This new program is designed to build upon the foundations laid in our initial UC4 training and provide an opportunity for university counseling staff to learn evidence-based psychotherapies, such as PE or CPT.

Staff Voices: New Experiences, New Perspective - Improving Therapy Outcomes - (Part I)

As a psychologist working in a Military Treatment Facility, I have had the privilege of providing care for some of America’s finest military men and women; those who have deployed to the Middle East in support of our most recent conflicts abroad. I have provided individual psychotherapy addressing deployment-related issues and concerns for the past five years and have also run a weekly post-deployment group for a little over four and a half years.

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