Addressing Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Among Servicemembers and Their Families: Existing Department of Defense Programs and Options for Improvement

Abstract

Over the past decade, U.S. military forces have engaged in extended conflicts that are characterized by increased operational tempo, most notably in Iraq and Afghanistan. While most military personnel cope well under these difficult circumstances, many have experienced and will continue to experience difficulties related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, an anxiety disorder that can develop after direct or indirect exposure to an event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened) or major depression. Others live with the short- and long-term psychological and cognitive consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI), an injury that has become increasingly common with the growing use of improvised explosive devices on the battlefield. Deployment may also have consequences for military families, particularly for marriage and intimate relationships, the well-being of spouses and partners, parenting practices, and children s well-being. Over the past several years, the Department of Defense (DoD) has implemented numerous programs to support servicemembers and their families in these areas. These programs focus on a variety of clinical and nonclinical concerns and address various components of biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and holistic influences on psychological health. Despite the proliferation of programs and related efforts, an ongoing challenge for DoD is to identify and characterize the scope, nature, and effectiveness of these various and ever-evolving activities. To address this need, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs asked the RAND National Defense Research Institute to develop a comprehensive catalog of existing programs currently sponsored or funded by DoD to address psychological health and TBI. The result is a new RAND report that provides a snapshot of all programs currently sponsored or funded by DoD that address psychological health and TBI.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA586959

Entities

People

  • Kristin J. Leuschner

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Addressing
  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Brain Injuries
  • Department Of Defense
  • Diseases And Disorders
  • Families (Human)
  • Health
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Homeland Security
  • Medical Personnel
  • Mental Health
  • National Security
  • Public Health
  • Security
  • Traumatic Stress Disorder

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Mental Health of Military Veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Risk Factors, Prevalence, Symptoms, and Treatment.
  • Personnel Management and Statistics in the Military and Department of Defense
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.