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The PTSD Patient: Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester Treats the “Whole Person”
Over the past few years, there has developed a deeper understanding of the inter-relationship between physical and mental health. Mental health problems are real, affecting one’s thoughts, body, feelings and behavior. These feelings and behaviors are not just a passing phase and can be...
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Helping Children Come to Terms with Sexual Abuse
The classic definition of “trauma” provided by Bessel Vander Kolk (1987) includes both the dramatic nature of an event as well as the individual’s ability to cope. Despite our capacity to survive and adapt, trauma can alter one’s psychological, biological and social equilibrium to such a...
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How Will They Tell Their Story? PTSD and Substance Use Disorder
A few years ago, while visiting a substance abuse treatment program, I was discussing treatment protocols with the Clinic Director. A case was brought up in which the woman patient clearly had a history of traumatic abuse. When I asked how the program addressed these issues, the Director replied,...
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New York to Develop Strategies to Assist Returning Veterans and Their Families
Governor David A. Paterson recently announced that New York was one of nine states and one territory that participated in the National Policy Academy for returning veterans; a public-private collaborative aimed at developing strategies to improve services provided to returning veterans needing...
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Posttraumatic Growth: Positive Psychological Changes After Trauma
After a trauma, victims, their loved ones and the professional community are often concerned with the subsequent psychological and physical ramifications. There is a plethora of research that documents the deleterious effects of trauma. While it is only natural to want to understand the damaging...
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From Da Nang to Baghdad: Treating Combat PTSD
In 1971 I was assigned to the 98th Medical Detachment, KO Team, one of two specialized, 28 man units made up of psychiatrists, a social work officer, nurses, and para-professional enlisted specialists in social work and neuropsychiatric procedures to assess and treat psychiatric casualties and drug...
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Challenges in the Assessment of Trauma Among Individuals with Disabilities
Data from the field of disabilities suggests that individuals diagnosed with disabilities may be at higher risk for being exposed to and experiencing events that could precipitate the development of trauma symptoms when compared to their nondisabled counterparts (Strauser, Lustig & Uruk, 2007)....
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Columbia Trauma and PTSD Program: Vital Research and Treatment for Veterans
Those of us who have not had the misfortune of enduring war find it difficult to understand. Popular culture is rife with images of warfare, but nothing in civilian life actually compares to the experiences of combat. Combat stress includes not only the constant threat of injury and death, the...
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Bridging Clinical and Research Frontiers in the Treatment of PTSD
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating stress-related psychiatric condition associated with significant psychiatric comorbidity, functional impairment, compromised health status, early mortality, and substantial economic costs to society. Despite the efficacy of...
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Treating Trauma Survivors in a Family Mental Health Clinic
Westchester Jewish Community Services’ (WJCS) Treatment Center for Trauma and Abuse has been in the forefront in Westchester County in providing child and adult survivors of child sexual abuse with effective treatment for almost thirty years. The program began in the Hartsdale clinic with just...
