1 / 22

Combat Trauma, Substance Dependence, and Treatment Providers: Understanding What We’ll Never Fully Understand

Combat Trauma, Substance Dependence, and Treatment Providers: Understanding What We’ll Never Fully Understand. Rodney J.S. Deaton, MD, JD Clinical Director, Substance Abuse Treatment Section, Richard L Roudebush VA Medical Center

phil
Download Presentation

Combat Trauma, Substance Dependence, and Treatment Providers: Understanding What We’ll Never Fully Understand

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Combat Trauma, Substance Dependence, and Treatment Providers: Understanding What We’ll Never Fully Understand Rodney J.S. Deaton, MD, JD Clinical Director, Substance Abuse Treatment Section, Richard L Roudebush VA Medical Center Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine

  2. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) • “Prescription drug abuse doubled among US military personnel from 2002 to 2005 and almost tripled from 2005 to 2008.” • “Army soldiers screened 3 to 4 months after returning from deployment to Iraq showed that 27 percent met criteria for alcohol abuse and were at increased risk for related harmful behaviors (e.g., drinking and driving, using illicit drugs).” • “Drug or alcohol abuse . . . was involved in 30 percent of the Army’s suicide deaths from 2003 to 2009 and in more than 45 percent of non-fatal suicide attempts from 2005 to 2009.”

  3. Goals • Workable Model for to Use in Individual and Group Settings • A “Provocative” Encouragement

  4. What Doesn’t Work • “Silo” Treatment • “Business as Usual” Trauma Treatment (i.e., Combat Trauma = Other Trauma)

  5. Seeking Safety • Najavits, Lisa M. Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse • Developing Specific Skills of Emotional RegulationSo That More Trauma-Focused Work Can Proceed

  6. Judith Herman’s Model of Trauma Treatment • Phase of Safety • Phase of Mourning • Phase of Re-Connection

  7. The Advantage • From the beginning, the veteran is urged to see combat PTSD and substance use disorders as inextricably linked

  8. The Recurring Message • You neverneed to use substances to cope. There is always a better (in the long run) alternative

  9. Description of Course • Twenty-Four Related, Yet Independent Units • Focus on Safety (Strength? Principles?) • Strong Focus on Case (Self) Management

  10. CAVEATS

  11. Harm Reduction:Abstinence as Goal, Not as Pre-Requisite

  12. Relapse = Trigger for More Focused Interventions, NOT Bump-Up of Care Level

  13. “Cookbook Therapy”--and Safety from Emotional Overload(for both veteran and clinician)

  14. Summary • Self-Medication Meets Biological Substrate

  15. Issues with Combat Trauma/Military Culture Do YOU Have What It Takes?

  16. Types of Trauma • Acts of God • Acts of Others • Acts of Self

  17. Volunteers in Time of War: Honor and Intensity

  18. Love, Rage—and Horrific Excitement Dare You Look Inward?

  19. Personality and Personality “Disorders” • Entitlement and the Ubiquity of Shame • “Posttraumatic Identity”

  20. “Readiness” • Can Your Prescribers “Hack It”? • Are You Physically Ready? • Are You Worthy of Respect? or the Art of Managing the Hysterical

  21. On Street Hustlers, Rebellious Rakes, and Good-Old Country Boys

  22. Further Resources • www.seekingsafety.org • Van Winkle, Clint. Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder • Johnson, James D. Combat Trauma: A Personal Look at Long-Term Consequences • Shay, Jonathan. Achilles in Vietnam.

More Related