 The Soldiers and Veterans Initiative (SVI) adds a psychoanalytic voice to the public's response to a growing mental health crisis among soldiers, veterans and their families — a crisis that is widely recognized by policy and mental health experts. In response to this public health emergency, APsaA President Prudence Gourguechon, has declared this Initiative. APsaA's SVI emphasizes two core contributions that psychoanalysts can make in the context of this crisis:
- a focus on the impact of war on families and children, including across generations, and
- a focus on the need for long term treatment and/or long term access to treatment for war injuries.
Current Media Coverage: Our Wounds, our Duty
War's weight falls on every citizen, and as the ancient Athenians showed, all must help carry it.
by Thomas Paleima and APsaA member Stephen Sonnenberg published in the Austin American-Statesman
"Unfortunately, over the past eight years, our Army has been no stranger to tragedy, but we are an army that draws strength from adversity."
We should take to heart what Gen. George W. Casey Jr., chief of staff of the Army, said to us immediately after the terrible violence at Fort Hood.
Read more...
 APsaA Member Awarded Purpose Prize
APsaA member Dr. Judith Broder was recently awarded the prestigious Purpose Prize by Civic Ventures, a non-profit think tank devoted to baby boomers, work, and social purpose. Dr. Broder, of Los Angeles, CA, received $100,000 for her work on The Soldiers Project, which provides free, confidential and unlimited therapy to American military service members and their families.
Introduction
In its 2008 report, "The Invisible Wounds of War," the Rand Corporation studied the mental health problems of returning veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. Its authors concluded that 18.5 %of returning veterans struggle with PTSD or major depression, while another 19.5% suffer from traumatic brain injuries.
Because of the stigma within the military of revealing these symptoms, and because of limitations in access of veterans to confidential mental health care, many veterans' difficulties were going untreated. Of the half of those with significant symptoms who do seek treatment, a half in turn were being offered only minimal care (Tanelian & Jaycox, 2008). In a related finding, the suicide rate among veterans and active –duty military personnel has been rising as well, with preliminary reports within the Department of Veterans Affairs suggesting that a thousand veterans within V. A. care were committing suicide on a monthly basis (Finnegan, 2008).
APsaA's initiative will address what psychoanalysts have been doing and can do in the face of this mental health crisis. It will offer links to organizations with important information, and a bibliography for all who are interested in learning more about the traumatic aftermath of modern warfare, as well as about the psychodynamic treatment of PTSD. |