Combat Trauma and Veterans' Families

Social Work Today has an article in their current issue on "Trauma and the Military Family: Responses, Resources and Opportunities for Growth."  The article title promises more than the article actually delivers -- it's pretty slim on "responses, resources and opportunities for growth" -- but to the extent that it's at least coverage on this important topic, however minuscule, it's worth knowing about.  The article overly cites Down Range: to Iraq and Back (by Bridget C. Cantrell, Ph.D. and Chuck Dean), to the exclusion of the many other important books on the subject, and it's pretty basic.  But at least it makes the point that a combat veteran's struggles with PTSD affects not just the veteran, but his or her family as well.  The article's author, Michelle D. Sherman, Ph.D., is the director of the Family Mental Health Program at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and she devotes the second half of the short article to discussing "Support and Family Education ("SAFE")," an "18 session family education program for people who care about someone with mental illness."  The entire curriculum of this program is on the Web, linked here, with one specific segment oriented to PTSD, linked here.  The PTSD information looks helpful, and there are two handouts included as part of it, one called "PTSD and Its Impact on the Family," linked here, and the other called "What We'd Like Our Family Members and Friends to Know about Living with PTSD," linked here.  (The last item, because it was written with the suggestions of Vietnam veterans as to what to do and not to do, is particularly interesting and practical.)  Kudos to the VA and to Dr. Sherman for making this material available to veterans and their families.