subject: Psychological Crisis Intervention for Iraq War Veterans [print this page] Psychological Crisis Intervention for Iraq War Veterans
Psychological crisis intervention for Iraq war veterans is a project dedicated to raising awareness of the plight of USA military personnel and families affected by the various conflicts in Iraq. There are a number of ways in which care for veterans differ from our usual context of war. This study prepares a comprehensive insight into the types of crisis that Iraq war veterans have, psychological counseling crisis intervention methods for Iraq war veterans, how these interventions were implemented and finally, the outcomes of these psychological counseling intervention.
Types of Crisis That Iraq War Veterans Have
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been cited as one of the major type of crisis that Iraq war veterans go through. This is a disorder that can occur after a person has been exposed to situations that involve death or likely threat of death (trauma) which result to intensive stress. PTSD is a risk factor for suicidal ideation in Iraq war veterans (Jakupcak et al, 2009). This is increased by the presence of trauma that is triggered by experience in the event of a bomb explosion, torture, rape, violent beating, and others. There is hardly a feeling of normalcy as one feels reactions that swing from emotional pain, intense physical pain, and mood swings that ultimately leads one yearning for an early death. In PTSD, regular flashbacks to horrible near death situations are common and there is major depressions and anxiety. Posttraumatic stress disorder and injury during combat is differentially related to migraine and tension-type headache which point to a complex relationship between physical-psychological trauma and headache (Afari et al, 2009). This result from factors such as experience of killing people at close range, extended length of service with shorter periods of resting which has a psychological effect on recovering, and the common handling of bodies of dead comrades. It has been noted that the risk of developing PTSD has been associated with increased instances of combat in which the soldier are engaged (Andrews et al, 2000).
Traumatic brain injury is another crisis experienced by the veterans in Iraq war. This injury is hard to recognize by the soldiers themselves, family, and even the doctors. A survey by in the United States found that brain injury was noted high in soldiers who had an accident involving their head, gunshot on the neck or face, a vehicle accident, or a fall wounds from an explosion. Among the veterans with brain damage, more than half have severe brain injury cases, which make most of them end up with speech problems which later affect their education if they ever wish to go back to school (Grubaugh et al, 2009).
Family breakdown is a crisis that is felt by family members after one of them involved in the Iraq war struggles to return to civilian life. Soldiers can face a variety of problems in re-entering their families, as the contrast between challenges and the realities of home coming can be distressing. A family in itself has experienced various problems as a result of deployment. Role adjustment had taken place while the other party was a way (Evans et al, 2009).
In an effort to escape the vivid trauma memories, trauma victims do what they can to numb themselves or escape from trauma-memory-triggering stimulation. Frequently, this takes the form of substance abuse (on the theory that if you drink or drug yourself into oblivion, you can't re-experience the trauma memories). Alcohol and drug problems in Iraq war veterans are well established in different publications. Substance abuse adds to the problems caused by PTSD and interferes with key roles and relationships, impairs coping, and impairs entry into and ongoing participation in treatment (Grubaugh et al, 2009).
Generally the Iraq war veterans have demonstrated psychological stress where the psychological homeostasis is tampered with, the coping mechanisms cannot work properly. With evidenced significant distress and impairment, this has been triggered by anger and aggression.
Psychological Counseling Crisis Intervention Methods for Iraq War Veterans
Psychological counseling in crisis intervention is defined as a helping process aimed at mitigating the crisis response. Post-traumatic stress disorder affects the social functioning of the Iraq war veterans. Sometimes veterans move to rural locations or just become a recluse. The idea here is to reduce irritation and stimulation by minimizing exposure to stressful interactions from others. To deal with PSTD, Iraq war veterans are helped to avoid hiding from other people (social avoidance). This is done by supporting a come back into existing relationships with work colleagues, friends, relatives, or establishment of new social networks, especially those living military life back to civilian life. Skills training on social functioning should be provided to veteran and a target made for intervention. Concrete management skills of specific difficult social situations may be also helpful. Veterans to veterans' socializations have too been done by clinicians to facilitate the developments of social networks (west et al, 2006).
For newly returning Iraq veterans, it has been important to supplement traditional abstinence-oriented treatments with attention to milder alcohol problems and in particular, to initiate preventive interventions to reduce drinking and to prevent acceleration of alcohol consumption as a response to PTSD symptoms. Education about safe drinking practices and the relationship between traumatic stress reactions and substance abuse has also been used to assist Iraq war veterans (Chalder et al, 2001).
The primary source of support for the returning soldier is likely to be his or her immediate family. Mental health providers can reduce the problems in families by helping the veterans and their families look forward and prepare for family challenges by involving them in treatment and providing skill training for patients in relevant family skills like communication, anger management, conflict resolution, and parenting. Connecting families together through long term mutual support and short term mutual support will go a long way to help the families affected. In treatment of chronic PTSD, veterans often come back to report that perhaps their most helpful experience was the opportunity to connect with friendship and support from other veterans. Involving activities including family education, weekend family workshops, couples counseling, family therapy, parenting classes, or training in conflict resolution, will be very important with Iraq War veterans (Jakupcak, 2007).
