Department of Veterans Affairs. Returning from the War Zone A Guide for Families of Military Members (Annotated Bibliography Sample)

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PTSD in Veterans
Department of Veterans Affairs. Returning from the War Zone A Guide for Families of Military Members (2014).
This is a holistic guide by the VA to help families to cope with veterans with PTSD as they arrive from combat zones. The guide is useful to families of veterans who may not know anything regarding PTSD. The article highlights frequent reactions to trauma by veterans such as trouble sleeping, trouble eating, bad dreams, anger, guilt and shock. Families ought to prepare well to receive their veterans without elevating the symptoms of trauma. Unnecessary pressure to veterans may escalate their condition. The article also gives families help tips and warning signs to look for in veterans. This article will be very useful in providing all the information on PTSD for the research. It will compliment other scholarly articles that highlight different diagnosis, treatment approaches and coping strategies.
Department of Veterans Affairs. Returning from the War Zone A Guide for Military Personnel (2014).
This article is a guide for service members arriving from warzones. It intends to help them cope with PTSD. It highlights a crucial aspect of switching from a military mindset to a civilian mindset. Like other articles on PTSD, it outlines common physical, mental and behavioural reactions to trauma. Another vital aspect is the common challenges that veterans face when they arrive home. Some may face financial challenges related to income flows while other may find readjusting to work difficult. Another challenge is relating to children, family and friends. The challenge of expressing feelings, as a result of trauma may exacerbate PTSD. The article advices all veterans returning from combat to visit VA medical centers to seek help. When used with other scholarly articles, this guide will be valuable in offering more knowledge of PTSD and subsequent intervention approaches.
Holliday, Ryan, et al. "Developing the PTSD Checklist-I/F for the DSM-IV (PCL-I/F): Assessing PTSD Symptom Frequency and Intensity in a Pilot Study of Male Veterans with Combat-Related PTSD." Behavioral Sciences 5.1 (2015): 59-69. Web.
Veterans Health Administration uses the PTSD (Posttraumatic stress disorder) Checklist (PCL), a tool to measure PTSD severity and its symptoms. As a self-reporting tool PCL is easily administered in a short time compared to the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). The study intended to modify PCL to measure frequency and intensity (PCL-I/F) of PTSD symptoms. The study found out that PCL-I/F had high correlation and internal consistency like CAPS. The importance of this tool is that it will provide valid and reliable analysis of symptom severity than any other too previously used. This article is vital because it will provide valuable insights into approaches for evaluating and diagnosing PTSD by the Veterans Association. The authors also recognize the need to constantly improve on the PTSD evaluation tools so that they can match with the ever-changing DSM criteria.
Kehle‐Forbes, Shannon M., et al. "Acceptability of prolonged exposure therapy among US Iraq war veterans with PTSD symptomology." Journal of traumatic stress 27.4 (2014): 483-487. Web.
The authors of this study examine the efficacy of prolonged exposure therapy (PE) as a treatment method for PTSD. This article will be incorporated when addressing various approaches of treating PTSD and their respective efficacy. Since effectiveness of a given intervention informs its use, this article will provide valuable insights into PE as it compares with other treatment options for known minimizing PTSD symptoms. In order for veterans to increase interest in PE, clinicians ought to offer a short psychoeducation about the evidence, rationale, benefits and risks of PE. The article relates to other articles that detail various methods of treating PTSD such as group psychotherapy and spiritual intervention.
Kimbrel, Nathan A., et al. "Deliberate Self‐Harm and Suicidal Ideation Among Male Iraq/Afghanistan‐Era Veterans Seeking Treatment for PTSD." Journal of traumatic stress 27.4 (2014): 474-477. Web.
The study sought to examine the rates of deliberate self-harm (DSH) among veterans that sought treatment for PTSD. The study found out that DSH had a significant correlation with suicidal ideation in veterans. DSH can manifest in activities such as burning oneself and hitting oneself. DSH is a gateway act that can result into more severe forms of self-harm such as suicide. The authors, however, advice caution in using their findings because the study was cross-section in nature hence limited ability to draw inferences of relationships. Another limitation of this study is that it only used a male sample hence the findings cannot be generalized to other veteran groups. The article will be used to provide more information on the impact of PTSD on the quality of life of veterans.
McCarron, Kelly K., et al. "PTSD diagnoses among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans: comparison of administrative data to chart review." Journal of traumatic stress 27.5 (2014): 626-629. Web.
The article sought to estimate the rates of PTSD among veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan war. The data is crucial for assisting the department of Veteran Affairs (VA) to make effective health care policy plans. When compared to chat review, administrative data was more accurate in providing PTSD diagnoses by the VA. The authors also argue that administrative data can aid in developing prediction models that maximize positive predictive value (PPV). The method could also improve diagnosis of PTSD by eliminating cases that diagnosis was not established when assessed by a clinician. The one limitation of this data is that it fails to account for diagnostic specificity and sensitivity, hence cannot be utilized to gauge the real prevalence of PTSD. This article is related to those that address methods of evaluating the prevalence of PTSD among veterans.
MacDonell, Gail V., et al. "Psychological Functioning of Partners of Australian Combat Veterans: Contribution of Veterans' PTSD Symptoms and Partners' Caregiving Distress." Australian Psychologist 49.5 (2014): 305-312. Web.
This study offers insights into the linkage between veterans PTSD and their partners’ mental health. Research shows that veterans’ partners’ comprise a high-risk group with severe implications for their emotional, physical and mental wellbeing. Combat veterans show significantly superior levels of PTSD and depression evaluated against other groups. Their mental issues, in turn, negatively impact their families. To assess distress among partners, the authors used The Partners of Veterans-Distress Scale Revised (POV-DSR). Partners showed distress in domains such as social isolation, exhaustion, intimacy problems among others. Another significant aspect of the study findings was that PTSD was significantly associated with partner diminished psychological outcomes (life satisfaction, mental health, and marital adjustment). The article is important as it addresses the implication of PTSD not only on veterans, but also on their partners. In this case, interventions must address family issues as opposed to singling out veterans for psychotherapy. The study relates to other articles that outline the impact of PTSD on the quality of life of both veterans and their families.
Schumm, Jeremiah A., Ellen M. Koucky, and Alisa Bartel. "Associations between Perceived Social Reactions to Trauma‐Related Experiences With PTSD and Depression Among Veterans Seeking PTSD Treatment." Journal of traumatic stress 27.1 (2014): 50-57.
The authors assert that negative social reactions (measured using the Social Acknowledgment Questionnaire (SAQ) towards posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) survivors is damaging to their psychological adjustment. In general, a stronger score on the SAQ is predictive of PTSD among survivors. The study revealed that these three domains can be used reliably among military and civilian groups with trauma. This study is important because the findings help to understand that social reactions are crucial for explaining depression in trauma survivors. The article is also relevant because it will help inform PTSD treatment by showing specific areas if therapeutic intervention, as opposed to a ‘one-size fits all’ form of treatment. The study will reinforce other articles that address the difference between military and civilian PTSD.
Sherman, Michelle D., J. Irene Harris, and Christopher Erbes. "Clinical approaches to addressing spiritual struggle in veterans with PTSD." Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 46.4 (2015): 203-212. Web.
This article explores spirituality as a crucial aspect of treatment of PTSD. This is because the spirituality of patients may assist in making meaning of seemingly nonsensical, random traumatic occurrences by placing them in a wider, benign scope. The authors offer spiritual ways for addressing trauma in order to help clinicians find additional training and learning in this area. The authors also posit that when using spiritual interventions, therapists need to recognize that spirituality can be a basis for comfort or struggle. This article relates to others that address various methods of treating PTSD in veterans. Spirituality is a unique domain that may be crucial in treating PTSD for this vulnerable group.
Stern, Stephen L., et al. "Potential benefits of canine companionship for military veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." Society & Animals 21.6 (2013): 568-581. Web.
Some studies have suggested that PTSD veterans with animal companions have reduced levels of depression, and anxiety. Therefore, the authors of this article investigated the role of dogs in helping veterans with PTSD. In...