Healing Combat Trauma

Trauma Affects War Correspondents Also

The Dart Center for Journalists and Trauma, housed at the University of Washington's School of Communications in Seattle, WA, has a website and blog about trauma resources for journalists who have worked in war zones.  As you may already be aware, the war in Iraq has been a deadly assignment for many journalists already.  The link to the Dart Center's blog is here.

Another good place to read about effect of the current war on reporters worldwide (with a more international focus than that Dart's information), is the organization, Reporters without Borders, whose website is here.  They have a grisly graphic on their site of a long-lensed camera covered in blood, with the count accelerating of how many reporters have died or injured in the Iraq war so far -- 82 to date.  I realize this doesn't compare with the incredible sacrifices of the military, but journalists generally don't expect themselves to be targets in wartime, and in this war, they've been exposed to many of the same dangers and trauma as the military themselves.

For an example of how reporters following the story get caught up in the relationship with the people they've covering, even when the subjects are the military, take a look at photographer Rob Curtis' site.  He's been following a number of new Marine officers into combat for his recently-released documentary, "Class 186: The Making of a Marine Officer" (no connection with the similarly-named book by Nathaniel Fick).  One of the young officers whose career he profiled in that documentary, 2nd Lt. Almar Fitzgerald, was recently killed in Ramadi, Iraq, just a few weeks before his combat tour was up, and you can read Curtis' heartfelt, touching tribute to Fitzgerald on his blog, which also includes a video tribute to Fitzgerald.

National Center for PTSD Resources

The National Center for PTSD, part of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, has a very good list of resources available to interested parties on the Web.  Check out the list of resources here.

1 in 3 Iraq Vets Seek Mental Health Services

According to a report in Yahoo today, apparently previewing the results of a study to be released in the Journal of the American Medical Association ("JAMA") tomorrow, as many as one in three Iraq vets are seeking mental health services, often within the first two months of returning home.  This is good news in the pro-active mental health care department, because it means that a dent is being made in the people who need to be seen.  According to the Yahoo story, of those who do report experiencing PTSD, more than half acknowledge having seen someone else die or be wounded, or report firing on someone else in direct combat, versus those who do not report experiencing PTSD.  Apparently signficantly more vets have been affected by combat trauma in the war in Iraq than in previous wars, including the war in Afghanistan.  It's also good news that we're keeping better track of the numbers here, and that the screening process, such as it is, is happening earlier in the process -- as in, when vets first return from combat -- as opposed to waiting years after the fact, to see if chronic PTSD sets in.  It will be very interesting to read the JAMA study tomorrow and see what its preliminary conclusions are.

Michael Fay, Combat Artist

It was nice to see the article in this Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, page B1, by author Michael Phillips, himself the author of The Gift of Valor: A War Story, about Michael Fay, USMC combat artist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.  Combat art is a long tradition that goes back hundreds of years in the military, and some of the best American artists have participated -- names we all know.  Michael Fay's work, which is stunning, can be viewed on his blog, and also at the Navy Museum in Washington, D.C., currently.  (Fay's work will also be featured at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvana.)  It'd be interesting to know from Warrant Officer Fay how therapeutic for him doing art in a combat zone was, or is; it definitely sounds from what he's written that his presence there, with the troops as one of them, doing art about what they were jointly going through, was somewhat therapeutic for others to experience.  There are some incredible pictures on his blog (the Marine Corps owns his work, not Fay himself) of faces of some current warriors, which provide a great window into the stress and exhaustion of combat for the participants.  Be sure to give Fay's work a look -- there's nothing quite like it. (For a look at the combat art from previous generations, be sure to check out this link.)

Update on Wounded Warrior Project Conference

According to an article published today on the Marine Corps' website, it does look like the Wounded Warrior Project's conference on handling combat stress did go forward in NYC last week, despite the bad weather.  Read more about the conference as the Marine Corps reported it, here.  The conference was free (but still, in NYC, so expensive for anyone not local to attend), and intended for current veterans and their family members in scope, but only 17 people showed up.  Whether the conference promoters found this discouraging or not, or perhaps just par for the course with starting up something new, is hard to tell.  There were two quotes from the article that stood out:

First quote, and the Marine Corps' commentary on it (the Marine Corps, btw, was not affiliated with the conference directly): “I thought the conference was successful. The hardest part of it all was to get service members to attend the conference. Often times the macho-ness of a service member may get in the way of them asking for help,” said Schwat [the conference organizer].  Reluctance to attend the conference may have stemmed from the fear of service members being labeled as having a post traumatic stress disorder, said Schwat. He emphasized that the conference was strictly for combat stress and nothing more laying to rest the concerns of many service members.

Second quote: “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with asking for help. As long as there has been war, there has been combat stress, and the service member in combat has been placed in an abnormal situation. So, certainly that will impact them later on down the line, and the important thing is to get help in any way, shape, or form,” said Schwat.

It seems like this is a message that will  need to continue getting out over time, to break down the initial resistance of some who such programs are likely to help.  Let's hope for the best.

Contact information for the Wounded Warrior Project is available on their website, www.woundedwarriorproject.org.

Native Americans Address Healing Combat Trauma

Indian County Today, "the Nation's Leading American Indian News Source," has an article in today's paper about how "Navajo and Hopi veterans of northern Arizona will now receive the counseling, services and traditional ceremonies they may need to help them re-adjust to civilian life after the traumatic stress of combat or military service."

The article states that "The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Expansion Program is being funded through a new three-year, $250,000 grant, which has been used to hire three counselors to provide PTSD treatment services to Navajo and northern Arizona veterans."

Interesting article about a great resource now available to Native Americans, many of whom have served in combat.

Community Can Play Role in Healing

The Cloquette, Minnesota Pine Journal had an article in Wednesday's paper about how the combat veteran's larger community can play a role in helping him or her to re-integrate into society.  This article is part one in a series; next week they'll have a follow-up article, Part Two of “The Long Road Home” will take a look at how soldiers are programmed to become warriors on the road to war – and the five critical challenges they face in coming home again. Future articles will address the symptoms of combat stress, the resources available to soldiers and their families, and specific guidelines regarding how the rest of the community can help out.  Good stuff, by Pine Journal reporter and publisher, Wendy Johnson!  Keep it coming... and let's hope this series gets picked up by bigger, national papers as well.

combat veterans to heal. 

Wild Horses, 'Eh?

In one of the most unusual articles we've come across recently, this time in the Cincinatti Enquirer, apparently recent medical research is providing some advances into the fairly unexplored territory of why some people get PTSD and others exposed to the same triggers or circumstances do not.

Lawson Wilson, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Cincinnatti, cites research done at Massachusetts General Hospital which has isolate a specific area of the brain, the anterior cingulate, which can become unable to manage the stresses the brain has experienced.

In perhaps the shortest article on record, Wilson states, "Of all the U.S. soldiers and all the Iraqi citizens exposed to combat and terror, roughly one in 10 will end up with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.  The amazing good news is that the other nine of 10 war survivors will not develop PTSD."

Wilson goes on to say that for the other 10 percent "who are not so lucky or not so resilient, PTSD is like having wild horses locked in the barn.  For long stretches, sometimes years, life might go on without trouble. The horses are quiet. The natural coping instincts work well enough. Then, for mysterious reasons, the demands of life wear down the coping instincts, and anxiety breaks through in the form of nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks.  They can be as overwhelming as the original trauma, and they don't go away."

Treatment helps, Wilson promises, but isn't specific as to what treatments help.  He does, however, mention the work of Scott Rauch, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, who he asays "has identified a set of brain circuits that are out of whack in PTSD."

It will be interesting to keep our eyes open for more research on this topic and perhaps alerts as to what Rauch is finding at Mass. General as that develops.

Experts Fear Combat Trauma May Be Escalating

The Kalamazoo Gazette recently ran an article (very hard to get to, via their website, which requires registration) entitled, "The Trauma of War: Experts Fear Cases of Veterans with PTSD Could Skyrocket." The article's authors are Chris Killian and Ben Lando, and the original publication date was February 19, 2006.

A brief excerpt follows:

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reports that between 2002 and 2005, about 19,000 soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan were treated for symptoms of PTSD.

The actual number of those who suffer from PTSD almost certainly is higher, veterans experts say, because the stigma attached to mental disorders sometimes keeps troops from acknowledging a problem or seeking treatment. Another factor that might keep reported cases deceptively low: PTSD frequently doesn't affect a person until long after he or she has suffered a traumatic experience.

A 2004 VA study of 6,201 active-duty U.S. service members, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that symptoms of major depression, anxiety or PTSD were reported by 16 percent to 17 percent of those who fought in  Iraq and 11 percent of those who served in Afghanistan.

Of the veterans who were confirmed sufferers of PTSD, 80 percent acknowledged they had a problem, 40 percent said they wanted help, but only 26 percent reported receiving formal mental-health care.

“The human experience is always the same with regard to the trauma of war,” said Jim Simmons, assistant director of the American Legion Department of Michigan Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation.

“The stress leaves its mark on everybody, some more than others.”

Combat Trauma Haunts Returning Veterans

USA Today recently published an article about the "Trauma of Iraq War Haunting Thousands Returning Home."

As the article reports, "Of the 244,054 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan already discharged from service, 12,422 have been in VA counseling centers for readjustment problems and symptoms associated with PTSD. Comparisons to past wars are difficult because emotional problems were often ignored or written off as "combat fatigue" or "shell shock." PTSD wasn't even an official diagnosis, accepted by the medical profession, until after Vietnam."

The article takes a pretty fair-minded look at the subject, and acknowledges the difficulty many (particularly young) veterans have admitting that they might have a problem, given the stigma that allegedly exists in the military about seeking help for wounds of an inner nature.

Technology Builds a Caring Bridge

A low-tech, high-touch resource that's available to combat veterans and their families today is CaringBridge, which calls itself "a place ot heal, celebrate and share" (on the Web, parentheses mine). 

As their PR announces, CaringBridge™ is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization offering free personalized Web sites to those wishing to stay in touch with family and friends during significant life events. Our mission is to bring together a global community of care powered by the love of family and friends in an easy, accessible and private way.

CaringBridge authors quickly and easily create personalized Web sites that display journal entries and photographs. Well-wishers visit the site to read updates and leave messages in the Guestbook.

The CaringBridge experience is unique for both authors and visitors in its immediacy, intimacy and wide-reaching impact. We make profound human connections, using technology to serve a higher purpose in a powerful way.

As of January 24, 2006, we have hosted more than 35,000 CaringBridge sites. Those sites have received more than 210 million visits and over 5 million guestbook messages.

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Several 3/7 Marines wounded in Iraq in early December, 2005 have great websites via CaringBridge, that allow their family and friends to stay in touch and offer updates to wellwishers round the world.  The power of these updates is pretty impressive.  One young Marine's website has logged over 25,000 visits since mid-December, and respondents mention checking in daily to see and encourage his progress.  Visitors to the guu's various websites on CaringBridge can also follow their joint progress, as they encourage each other in the journey from trauma to healing.  (E.g., Marines Travis Greene and Neil Frustaglio and Naval Corpsman Tony Bullene, among others.)

Combat Stress Seminar

The seemingly fabulous Wounded Warrior Project, recently featured on "60 Minutes," held a combat stress seminar for returning veterans and their caregivers in New York City.  (The timing was the same as the blizzard that just went through there, so it would be interesting to see if it actually took place).  Here is the information about the seminar, from the Wounded Warrior Project website:

WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT COPING WITH COMBAT STRESS SEMINAR

Are you, or is someone you love, a recently returned service member who served in combat during Operations Enduring or Iraqi Freedom? If so, you or your loved one may, understandably, be experiencing stress while readapting to everyday civilian life.

On February 15^th and 16^th, 2006, the Wounded Warrior Project will be holding a two-day seminar in New York City entitled “Coping with Combat Stress”. The program, which is open to recently returned service members from Operations Enduring or Iraqi Freedom and their families, will educate the participants on how to identify and deal with the symptoms of combat stress and will demonstrate various relaxation and coping techniques. Professionals from the Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers/World Trade Center Healing Services will be leading the workshop.

The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is a nonprofit organization aimed at assisting those men and women of the United States Armed Forces who have been severely injured during the wars on terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hot spots around the world. Beginning at the bedside of the severely wounded, WWP provides programs and services designed to ease the burdens of these heroes and their families, aid in the recovery process and smooth the transition back to civilian life.

The Coping with Combat Stress seminar will be held at the Lighthouse International Headquarters, The Sol and Lillian Goldman Building, which is located at 111 East 59th Street, New York, NY  10022-1202. The two-day seminar is free of charge. Participants are expected to attend both days’ sessions and, accordingly, accommodations in Manhattan may be available. Space is limited so please register as soon as possible.

For more information about the combat stress seminar, please contact Jeremy Chwat at 646-452-5422 or via e-mail at: jchwat@woundedwarriorproject.org.

Civil War Veterans and PTSD

February, 2006's issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association ("JAMA") talks about a study they've done that takes a look at the effects of combat trauma on Civil War veterans, such as the study's researchers have been able to piece together.  This article was widely reported in the mainstream press, so mentions of it are available via Google.  The actual title of the article was "Combat Effects on Mental Health: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same," and the reference is Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:127-128.

This article in turn mentions previous articles, as follows:

Physical and Mental Health Costs of Traumatic War Experiences Among Civil War Veterans

Judith Pizarro, MA; Roxane Cohen Silver, PhD; JoAnn Prause, PhD

Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:193-200.

Background Hundreds of thousands of soldiers face exposure to combat during wars across the globe. The health effects of traumatic war experiences have not been adequately assessed across the lifetime of these veterans. 
Author Affiliations: Departments of Psychology and Social Behavior (Ms Pizarro and Drs Silver and Prause) and Medicine (Dr Silver), University of California, Irvine.

Objective To identify the role of traumatic war experiences in predicting postwar nervous and physical disease and mortality using archival data from military and medical records of veterans from the Civil War. 

Design An archival examination of military and medical records of Civil War veterans was conducted. Degree of trauma experienced (prisoner-of-war experience, percentage of company killed, being wounded, and early age at enlistment), signs of lifetime physician-diagnosed disease, and age at death were recorded. 

Setting and Participants The US Pension Board surgeons conducted standardized medical examinations of Civil War veterans over their postwar lifetimes. Military records of 17 700 Civil War veterans were matched to postwar medical records. 

Main Outcome Measures Signs of physician-diagnosed disease, including cardiac, gastrointestinal, and nervous disease; number of unique ailments within each disease; and mortality. 

Results Military trauma was related to signs of disease and mortality. A greater percentage of company killed was associated with signs of postwar cardiac and gastrointestinal disease (incidence risk ratio [IRR], 1.34; P < .02), comorbid nervous and physical disease (IRR, 1.51; P < .005), and more unique ailments within each disease (IRR, 1.14; P < .005). Younger soldiers (<18 years), compared with older enlistees (>30 years), showed a higher mortality risk (hazard ratio, 1.52), signs of comorbid nervous and physical disease (IRR, 1.93), and more unique ailments within each disease (IRR, 1.32) (P < .005 for all), controlling for time lived and other covariates. 

Conclusions Greater exposure to death of military comrades and younger exposure to war trauma were associated with increased signs of physician-diagnosed cardiac, gastrointestinal, and nervous disease and more unique disease ailments across the life of Civil War veterans. Physiological mechanisms by which trauma might result in disease are discussed. 

RELATED ARTICLES

This Month in Archives of General Psychiatry
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:124.
FULL TEXT 

Combat Effects on Mental Health: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same
Roger K. Pitman
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2006;63:127-128.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT 

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Combat Effects on Mental Health: The More Things Change, the More They Remain the Same
Pitman
Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006;63:127-128.
FULL TEXT 

Will VA Step Up to the Current Challenge?

A previous feature article in the Vietnam Veterans of America publication, the VVA Veteran, questions whether the Veterans Administration is quite ready to step up to the (signficant) challenge of providing adequate resources to treat current Iraq war combat veterans.  The full title of the article is, "Is the VA Ready to Provide Adequate Medical and Mental Health Care for Iraq War Veterans?" and the link to the article on the Web is here.

At Hell's Gate

A book which has GOT to be interesting, for the unique perspective its author can provide, is "At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace," by Claude Anshin Thomas.  (See sidebar for link to the book on Amazon.)  Thomas is a Vietnam vet turned Zen Buddhist monk who was heavily influenced by famous Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.  Here's what the publisher, Shambala, had to say about this book:--

New Memoir by Vietnam Veteran Turned Zen Monk Explores

the Causes of Violence and offers Viable Alternatives

At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace By Claude Anshin Thomas

"Written with relentless courage and utter compassion, this account of violence and transformation is one of the most amazing and wonderful stories Iíve ever read." -- Michael Herr, author of Dispatches, and screenwriter of Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now

At Hell's Gate (Shambhala Publications, on sale September 14, 2004) is Claude Anshin Thomas's dramatic coming-of-age story and spiritual odyssey, offering profound insights into how we can end suffering and violence in ourselves and in our world.

At Hell's Gate is a first-hand account of how the dehumanizing experience of war, along with the experience of family trauma and violence passed down from generation to generation, can create a perception of reality in which atrocity becomes commonplace. At a time when American soldiers are returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, injured both in body and soul, Thomasí memoir of serving in Vietnam and returning home is especially relevant.

In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Anshin Thomas recounts the story of his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and how he was ultimately able to find healing and peace. Thomas volunteered for duty in Vietnam at the age of eighteen, where he served as a crew chief on assault helicopters. By the end of his tour of duty, he had been awarded numerous medals, including the Purple Heart. He had also been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, witnessed horrifying cruelty, and narrowly escaped death on a number of occasions.

But upon his return to "normal" life, he hit rock bottom, unable to function. Like many Vietnam vets, he struggled with post-traumatic stress, drug and alcohol addiction, and even homelessness. He suffered intense flashbacks, and thought regularly of suicide. He was not alone. Roughly 58,000 Americans were killed in Vietnam, but, according to a former director of the Veteransí Administration, over 100,000 Vietnam veterans have committed suicide in the years since.

A turning point came when Thomas attended a meditation retreat for Vietnam veterans offered by a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. The experience so moved him that he soon became a student of Zen Buddhism, and eventually a monk himself.

Thomas, who has taken vows of mendicancy, now actively travels the world, making peace pilgrimages and teaching people how to end violence and war personally and globally. He leads "street retreats," meditation trainings and is invited to present over 130 talks per year. Thomas takes the unequivocal position that "war is never the answer." At the heart of Thomas' message is the understanding that war is actually the collective expression of individual suffering, and it is only through our personal actions and insights that we can hope to end war globally.

At Hell's Gate is not just a war memoir - it is an inspiring manual for healing that anyone who has experienced trauma can truly appreciate and benefit from. Thomas had the extreme experience of serving in Vietnam, but he reminds us that, "everyone has their Vietnam." We all experience suffering and have our own wounds. In simple and direct language, Thomas offers timeless teachings on how to heal emotional suffering, as well as practical guidance in using mindfulness and compassion to transform our lives.

Around the time of the book's publication, Thomas will be conducting a peace pilgrimage, walking from Concord, Massachusetts, where the first shot of the American Revolution was fired, to the site of the World Trade Center in New York City, to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. From there he will be traveling to over 60 cities across the country giving talks to universities, religious organizations and veterans groups.

Claude Anshin Thomas went to Vietnam at the age of eighteen, where he received numerous medals, including twenty-seven Air Medals, a Distinguished Flying Cross, and the Purple Heart. Today he is a monk in the Soto Zen tradition and an active speaker and Zen teacher in the United States and Europe. He is also the founder of the Zaltho Foundation, a nonprofit organization that promotes peace and nonviolence. This is his first book.

At Hell's Gate: A Soldier's Journey from War to Peace
By Claude Anshin Thomas
September 2004
$19.95 hardcover _ 192 pages
ISBN: 1-59030-133-1
Shambhala Publications

Acute Stress Disorder

Psychology Today's website has an article about "acute stress disorder" which may be of interest.  It mentions the benefits of cognitive therapy.  Other resources also recommend techniques like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing ("EMDR"), a technique that enjoyed some success in treating Vietnam veterans in recent years.

Caveat: obviously, don't believe everything you read in the Wikipedia -- it's a massive free for all in the information department -- but respect it as an attempt to get the information out there, so that interested parties can go on to research it further on their own.

Individuals Making a Difference

While this Congressional wife's personal efforts with returning veterans may not rise to the level of an official governmental response on the topic of healing combat trauma, it's heartwarming to see how one individual's efforts can still go far to make a difference.  Read more about this here, as long as the link stays active.

(Beverly Young, the wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Indian Shores, Florida, breaks stereotypes aplenty and warmly encourages the returning wounded at hospitals in the Washington, D.C. area, while her husband (who often accompanies her on these trips), does Congressional business.)

This story is almost as cute as the one the Christian Science Monitor had recently about the crowd of geriatric Mainers who welcome returning vets with as much warmth as they can muster.  It's really pretty adorable.  Kinda makes you want to get up in the middle of the night and go greet a plane.  Read about it here, so long as the link lasts.

Preventing Trauma

According to combat trauma expert, Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., a psychiatrist whose only patients are Vietnam veterans and those suffering from PTSD, "three keys to preventing psychological and moral injury in military service are in the hands of military line leaders and trainers and their seniors, who set policy and create climate. These are:

	Positive qualities of community (cohesion) of the service member’s face-to-face unit, of which stability is the most important;
	Competent, ethical, and properly supported leadership ("Auftragstaktik")
	Prolonged, realistic, progressive, state-dependent training that works for what troops and their leaders really have to do and face." You can read the rest of the article here, on the Web.

Acupuncture and Healing Trauma

The University of New Mexico is studying acupuncture and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  An article on the ongoing study is linked here.

An excerpt from the article follows:

Researchers at the University of New Mexico are continuing work on a $250,000 two-year study of the effects of acupuncture in treating PTSD. The study, which began in May, was made possible with a grant from the National Institutes of Health. If successful, it could lay the path for larger trials that incorporate Eastern and Western approaches to treating the condition.

"This is the first study I'm aware of to look at acupuncture as a modality for PTSD," said Dr. Michael Hollifield, an associate professor of psychiatry and family medicine at the university's department of psychiatry and the study's principal investigator. "To date, our research supports using acupuncture for treating PTSD symptoms, including insomnia, anxiety and depression, in addition to some pain disorders. It may do so by stimulating the body's internal opiate system, though much more research on this issue is needed."

Aiding Dr. Hollifield in his research are Nityamo Sinclair-Lian, DOM, and Teddy Warner, Ph.D., who will serve as co-investigators. Drs. Hollifield and Sinclair-Lian collaborated previously on a study on the effects of trauma in Vietnamese and Kurdish refugees. Dr. Sinclair-Lian also runs a public health pain clinic for Vietnamese refugees, and provides acupuncture detoxification for substance users at a local outreach shelter for the homeless.

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Anecdotally, as they say in the medical biz, acupuncture and other traditional healing modalities, are known to offer comfort and relief to numerous health conditions.  We'll list individual acupuncturists here on this blog as we come to learn about ones who are interested in the topic; and in general, check out a comprehensive directory of specialized acupuncturists here, of a type that treats conditions affecting the body, mind and spirit.

The Sidran Institute

The Sidran Institute, located in Towson, Maryland, is a center of a number of resources on healing trauma of all types.  They have a bookstore and a very comprehensive list of resources available for practitioners and interested parties alike, including an article list, a list of books available, and formal training courses.

Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D.

This article from the Washington Post is a tad on the old side, but the content is certainly current.  Thomas Ricks, author of Making the Corps, talks about Jonathan Shay's current affiliation with the Pentagon, and speculates on what perhaps the nation's foremost combat trauma expert may have to teach the Pentagon brass about how to help the military cope with the psychological perils of war.

Helpful Books

The classic books on the subject of "healing combat trauma" tend to be somewhat older, perhaps reflecting the last time this topic enjoyed any heightened awareness or higher profile in the U.S.  Resources are listed to the right of this post, and include two books by Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph. D.; one by Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph.D., and one by Patience H.C. Mason.  All are worth reading.

Great Article by Nathaniel Fick

My interest in this topic (if you don't count Vietnam) started when I read the following great article by Nathaniel Fick, called "Coming Home to What?" which had previously been published in the Boston Globe in the summer of 2005.  Fick is the exceptional author of an equally exceptional book, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer.  Fick, a Dartmouth honors graduate and former USMC Captain, with tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, talks in the article about how likely current veterans are to experience all the potential triggers for combat trauma, and how few resources await them upon their return.  Fick himself went the extra mile and read up on the resources available on the topic, so he could be of greater value to the men he led, and resources he recommends are the books by Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., which will be mentioned more specifically later.  Kudos to Fick for taking a personal lead on this particular topic, and for shining his personal light on the topic so that others can follow.

WELCOME

No time like the present to begin a blog dedicated to the resources for healing combat trauma.  This blog is intentionally apolitical. War happens. Veterans deal with the aftermath of going. Let's make sure they get the resources, help and support they need.  And let's get started on that...yesterday.

Just to be clear, this blog's focus is:

Resources for and about healing combat trauma.  The focus is on effective medical and psychological care, and the slant is apolitical.

NOTE: Hyperlinks to outside sources are not guaranteed to work; all did initially but may not indefinitely.  Subscribe via an RSS feed, if you like, so that you can be kept as up to date as possible.