Anand Kartha MD, MSc, Hospitalist and Director of Medical Consultation Service at the VA was awarded this year’s David Littman Award. The award is given to a physician at the VA who demonstrates outstanding dedication to the VA's patients and its mission.
Dr. Kartha was a recipient of a Primary Care (GIM/FM) Academic Fellowship at the Boston University Medical Campus. His years in the Fellowship were 2003-2005, and he spent them at the
Veterans Admininstration Hospital, Boston VA Healthcare System. The focus of his Fellowship studies were: Predictors of re-hospitalization/Utilization of health care resources in post-traumatic stress disorder.
Anand Kartha, MD, MSc, VA Boston Healthcare System, 1400 VFW Parkway, Mail Stop 111, West Roxbury, MA 02132.
BORN February 19,1942
B.S. University of Michigan, 1964: Physics Engineering; and Minors in Mathematics and Psychology.
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 1976: Department of Medical and Biological Physics: Group in Biophysics (interdisciplinary Program in Physical Biology; Life Science, Neurophysiology and Psychology.)
Ph.D. International College, Los Angeles, 1977; Independent Directed Tutorial, Psychology.
1999-Member of Task Force, Institute of World Affairs, Psychologists for Social Responsibility and Presidential Initiative on Ethnopolitical Warfare, Twin Lakes, Connecticut. Setting curriculum and training for large scale disaster and Ethnopolitical Conflict development at post graduate level.
1998-Present - Founder and Training Director, Foundation for Human Enrichment, Lyons, Colorado.
1998-1999 - Lecture and training, C. J. Jung Society, Denver, Colorado.
1995- Consultant: Colorado Center for Bio-behavioral Health.
1994-Present - Consultant, Pain and Rehabilitation Clinic, Mapleton Center, Boulder Community Hospital, Boulder, Colorado.
1990-1995 - Director and Training Director, Ergos Institute for Somatic Education.
1988-1990 - President, Foundation for Human Enrichment-A non-profit resource in the health sciences.
1988-1989 - Guest Teacher OASIS: International treatment program for refugees and torture victims. Copenhagen, Denmark.
1987-1990 - Guest teacher for the Danish Psychiatric hospitals at Nykooping and Viborg, Denmark.
1987-1989 - Guest Teacher, Bodynamic Institute. Copenhagen, Denmark.
1986-1990 - Consultant, Hopi Guidance Center; clinical training for native therapists.
1985-1989 - Co-teacher with Richard Oiney M.A., Hypnosis and Body Experience, a series of professional residential training programs held in Arizona.
1980-1990 - Program director and primary teacher in the Somatic Experiencing training program for Body Oriented Therapy, Berkeley, California.
1985-1987 - Community Affairs co-director for Ergos Institute, Flagstaff,-Arizona.
1985-1986 - Stress Consultant for Sheriffs Department of Coconino County, Arizona.
1984- Antioch College, San Francisco, California, Faculty in Somatic Psychology.
1983- Teacher in Residence and Director of the Extended Study Program, Esalen Institute. Big Sur, California.
1981-1982 - Visiting Faculty, University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine - Department of Clinical Principles and Practice. And Continuing Medical Education.
1981-1982 - Consultant, Blueberry Treatment Centers for Autistic Children, Brooklyn, New York, with Dr. Mira Rothenberg.
1980-1981 - Consultant, Stress and Pain Center, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
1978-1979 - Consultant to NASA Ames: Stress Factors in Space Shuttle Flight (Project Director; U.C. Consortium with NASA.)
1978-1979 - Instructor, Antioch College, San Francisco.
1977-1979 - Lecturer, Department of Health and Medical Sciences, University of California, Berkeley.
1976-1977 - Field Facility Advisor for Humanistic Psychology Institute Saybrook University, San Francisco, California.
1970-1971 - Lecturer in Contemporary Natural Sciences Program, Department of Physics and Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
1969-1970 - Instructor (acting): Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
1969-1970-Instructor: Life Sciences, Mills College, Oakland, California.
1962-1964 - Research Assistant, Electronic Defense Group and Department of Psychology, University of Michigan with Professor Wilson P. Tanner on electronic prosthetic devices for the blind.
1961- Technical Assistant, Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murryhill, New Jersey with Leon D. Harmon in Neurocybernetics, ''Artificial Neuron'' Project.
1961- Research Assistant Department of Psychology with Professor P.M. Fiffs, Stimulus Response compatibility studies in Human Engineering.
1999- Healing Trauma-Restoring the Wisdom of the Body, Peter Levine; Sounds True
1998- Trauma Therapy for Survivors of Torture, Jorgensen and Mathiasen eds.
1997-Waking the Tiger-Healing Trauma, Peter Levine with Ann Frederick; North Atlantic Books
1997- Memory, Trauma, and Healing- article appeared in Spring, 1997 of AHP Journal Perspective. Also in the Journal of Bio-Synthesis.
1996- ''Understanding Childhood Trauma''
1991- ''The Body As Healer, Transforming Trauma''
1990- Revisioning Anxiety and Trauma, in Giving the Body Its Due (ed. Maxine Sheets Johnstone) S.U.N.Y. Press, 1991.
1989- The Substitute Tiger, An Integrative Bio-developmental Approach to Anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress.
1986- Chapter on Stress for Psychophysiology. Systems, Processes, and Application, A Handbook, eds. Coles, M., Donchin, E., and Porges, S., Guilford Press, 1986.
1983- Chronic Perinatal Stress as a Predisposing Factor in Autism and Childhood Psychosis, a Neurodevelopmental model suggesting strategies in treatment and prophylaxis. In: Symposium on Autism co-sponsored by University du Quebec a Montreal and San Francisco State University.
1982- Circle of Damage, Circle of Grace-Stress and Your Children. (Unpublished Manuscript).
1982- Stress, Neurobiology and Behavior Benchmark series on Human Physiology and
Behavior, Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Inc. (Submitted for Publication).
1978- Stress and Vegetatherapy, Journal of Energy and Character-England (Fall and Winter)
1978- Infra-Uterinee Environment, Stress and Neurological Development, Journal of Behavioral Neuropsychiatry.
1977- Accumulate Stress Reserve Capacity and Disease, University Microfilm 77-15760, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
1977- A Rhythm to Growing. - A Comment on the Body Approaches of Reich and Rolf and the Process of Adaptive Growth, Life and Works of Wilhelm Reich, Viking Penguin.
1964- A Model for Flicker Fusion. Bell Telephone Company, Technical Memoranda.
1999- Keynote Speaker, National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine, Palm Springs, California.
1996-1999 - Keynote Speaker, American Polarity Therapy Association
1999- The Biology of Emotion- With Candice Perts.
1997- Keynote Speaker, Trauma Conference, Naropa Institute
1997- Keynote Speaker, Oasis Tenth Anniversary, International Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark.
1997- Keynote Speaker, International Polarity Conference
1996- Keynote Speaker AHP (Assoc. of Humanistic Psychology) International Conference
1995-1998 - Keynote Speaker The International Somatics Congress-Congress International de Somatotherapy
1995- ''Unifying the Elusive Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress and Closed Head Injury; New Models for Treatment''-Rehabilitation in-service, Mapleton Center/Boulder Community Hospital
1991- ''Somatic Contributions to the Healing of Sexual Abuse.'' University of California Extension School of Public Health.
1991- ''What Is The Child's Reality?, The Child In the Hospital,'' Washoe Medical Center, Reno, Nevada.
1990- Keynote National Hakomi Institute of Body Oriented Psychotherapy.
1989-1990 - Keynote National Guild for Structural Integration.
1989- ''The Ordinary Miracle of Healing'' at Washoe Medical Center, Reno, Nevada.
1989- ''An Integrative Approach to Anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress.'' The Second Nordic Psychophysiology Conference, Lynkooping, Sweden.
1988- Keynote National AMTA - ''Body Feeling and Self''
1987-1988 - Grand Rounds, Nevada-Mental Health Institute and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, Reno.
- ''What Constitutes Therapeutic Milieu in a Hospitalized Setting?'' (A panel discussion).
- ''Body/Mind Relationships; A Synthesis of Developmental and Psychophysiological Approaches in the Non-drug, Somatic (body-oriented) Treatment of Psychopathologies''
- ''The Substitute Tiger; Shock as a Critical and Neglected Factor in Treating Phobic States and Other Psychopathologies.'' Reno, Nevada.
1987- ''The Body in Health Care.'' YWCA, Reno, Nevada.
1984- ''Beyond the Relaxation Response: Self-regulation and Healing for Clinicians.'' U.C.L.A. School of Medicine.
1983- ''Towards a Biology of Body Work.'' Keynote Speaker. New Visions in Bodywork Invision Associates and JFK University.
1982- Grand Rounds, Pacific Medical Center (Department of Psychiatry): ''Another Look at Carbon Dioxide Inhalation in the Treatment of Stress Underlying Various Pathologies.''
1982- ''The Body and the Person: Towards a Somatic Model of Health'' (U.C. Extension School of Public Health), Consultant, Coordinator, and Participant.
1981- ''The Perinatal Period: Interface of Biology and Behavior'' (with S. Porges). Esalen Institute, Coordinator and Participant.
1980- ''Conceptualizing Energy Medicine.'' (U.C. Extension School of Public Health).
1979- ''Biology of the Affectional Bond.'' University of California, Berkeley, Health and Medical Sciences; Stanford Research Institute International: Ergos, Foundation, and Esalen Institute; Coordinator and Participant.
American Psychological Association A.M.T.A.-American Massage Therapy Association Guild for Structural Integration-inactive Society For Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis
American Board of Medical Psychotherapists, Fellow and Diplomat American Board of Stress Practitioners American Council of Hypnosis Examiners The American Institute of Stress, Fellow and Diplomat ISSSEEM-International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine
Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D. is Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Medical Director, the Trauma Center, Boston, MA, Past President, the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. He is the author of Psychological Trauma and an editor of Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body and Society. Dr. van der Kolk is one of the pioneers in traumatic stress studies. He was co-principal investigator of the DSM IV Field Trial for Traumatic Stress. He has written over a hundred scientific research articles on the topic and two leading textbooks. He has taught across the US, in Europe, China, Japan, Israel, South America and South Africa. His current research focuses on 1) Memory functions in a range of traumatized populations, including children exposed to violence, post-surgery patients, and torture victims; 2) The effects of theater groups and other action- oriented interventions on resolving traumatic stress in children and adolescents 3) Functional changes in brain activity, utilizing various neuroimaging techniques. 4) Treatment efficacy of EMDR vs. pharmacological agents, funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health.
Edward Tick, Ph.D., is an expert on post-traumatic stress disorder. A practicing psychotherapist for more than 25 years, he is a nationally recognized authority on the psychological, spiritual, historical, and cultural aspects of war in the healing of PTSD. Dr. Tick specializes in transformational work with war veterans and all survivors of severe trauma, including sexual and substance abuse victims, those with acute mental and emotional disorders, and those in need of deep psycho-spiritual healing. Dr. Tick applies his own innovative model of treatment based on his research of worldwide spirituality, mythology, traditional cultures, and the warrior archetype in order to develop a new and strengthened psycho-spiritual identity.
A writer, educator, and overseas journey guide, Dr. Tick holds an M.A. in psychology from Goddard College and a Ph.D. in Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a clinical member and has held various positions with the American Academy of Psychotherapists and the American Holistic Medical Association, as well as many other professional organizations. He is an ordained interfaith minister.
In 1979, Dr. Tick began psychotherapy treatment of Vietnam veterans before PTSD was a diagnostic category. Since that time, he has treated veterans and survivors of WWII, the Holocaust, Korea, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, Central American conflicts, Lebanon, the Balkan wars, the Irish civil and religious wars, the Greek Civil War, the Middle East conflicts, and the Iraq War. He has also served as a consultant to numerous community and church organizations for the treatment of veterans and has participated in the training of staff.
Dr. Tick’s extraordinary work takes him on healing journeys, spiritual tours, lectures, educational classes, and workshops around the globe. He is co-founder of the Sanctuary International Friendship Foundation, a nonprofit agency that directs and raises funds for projects to help heal war-torn Viet Nam. He resides in Albany, New York, where he and his wife Kate Dahlstedt are directors of Sanctuary: A Center for Mentoring the Soul and Soldier’s Heart, a non-profit program designed to create safe-return programs for veterans in communities across the country.
The author of three other books, Dr. Tick recently released War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation’s Veterans from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Quest Books, Nov. 2005), which has gained much international attention and acclaim. The title is now being used as the guidebook for Soldier’s Heart®, giving new hope to the devastation of war and showing us how to welcome home our soldiers with compassion and understanding. War and the Soul is the winner of the 2006 Award of Distinction from the International Communicator Awards program and has won ForeWord Magazine’s 2005 Book of the Year Award (BOTYA) in psychology. For more information on Dr. Tick and his work, visit his Web site, linked here.
Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D, is a psychologist for the National Center for PTSD at the Veterans Palo Alto Health Care System, California. Dr. Walser received her degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada-Reno. During her graduate studies she developed expertise in, traumatic stress, substance abuse and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). She is currently developing innovative ways to translate science-into-practice and is responsible for the dissemination of state-of-the-art knowledge and treatment, related to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, to health care professionals and trainees across all VA facilities nationally. She is working on a number of web-based and educational PTSD products for both practitioners and veterans. In addition, she is responsible for several research projects investigating use of mindfulness and ACT in PTSD populations, plus PTSD in the geriatric population.
Robyn D. Walser, Ph.D. is also the author of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide to Using Mindfulness & Acceptance Strategies, along with her VA colleague, Darrah Westrup, Ph.D..
In an article from Australia, there's a great quote about combat trauma/PTSD, and its very ordinariness.
(The article's topic is how "mental health problems caused by war service afflict veterans' families and children too.) One of the premises of the article is that, based on a study, "Sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans are three times more likely to commit suicide than those of similar age in the general population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2000, Suicide in Vietnam veterans' children: Supplementary report no.1). According to the same report, "They are also more likely to die of accidental death, experience depression and abuse alcohol or other drugs."
That's the overall pretext for the article. However, now comes the excellent quote, with a bit of preamble from the article itself, linked here:
According to Professor Hedley Peach, conducting research into veterans' sons and daughters is vital, not only to examine in detail the reasons behind their poor health but to set up support services that work for them. He is also eager for doctors to consider war service when treating patients, as in many cases it could help diagnosis .... Peach, a member of the scientific committee advising the Government on the feasibility study and professorial fellow at the University of Melbourne, says the Government should also consider studying grandchildren of Vietnam veterans to avoid more problems spiralling down through the generations.
''If the sons and daughters have got mental health problems and have young children themselves, what effect will that have on the grandchildren? We have to break the cycle.''
He suggests stressful familial environments could be behind the children's mental health problems, already highlighted by existing research. While many people with mental illness have a genetic predisposition to their condition, veterans were screened for mental illness before they went into the service, making stress a more likely factor in the children's ill health.
''In studies done by clinical psychologists running PTSD clinics for Vietnam veterans, children have reported a high level of dysfunction in families,'' he says. ''When we focused on Agent Orange so much in the past we missed the bigger picture. We are seeing the same sorts of problems in veterans of the Iraq and Gulf Wars, and fighters in World War II are now saying they suffered from the same problems. It is not due to any specific war, it is the generic effect of combat.''
Thanks to Kathie Costos for this reference...
After earning his Masters degree in Psychiatric Social Work from Florida State University in 1968, Shad went on active duty in 1969 as a Captain in the U.S. Army. In 1970, he served one tour as a Social Work/Psychology Officer for I and II Corps in the Republic of South Vietnam.
Upon his return to the states, Meshad continued his dedication to American veterans by starting the Vietnam Veterans Re-Socialization Unit at the Brentwood, CA VA Hospital in 1971. He spent eight years working with Vietnam veterans and their severe readjustment problems in the Los Angeles area. Shad was one of the pioneers in the study of the disorder known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
In the past 27 years, Shad has received many service awards and recognitions for his work. He authored a book about his year in Vietnam, Captain for Dark Mornings, which, highly acclaimed, is in its second printing. Meshad has made appearances on many major television networks and cable news talk shows, including 60 Minutes, 20/20, Dateline, Nightline, and CNN News. Shad continues to consult, train, and counsel nationally and internationally.
In 1986, Shad started a stress management and consulting service. In the early 90's he began focusing on treating compassion fatigue. This condition is identical to secondary traumatic stress disorder (STSD) and is the equivalent of PTSD. It is the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized person. Through his associations, Shad introduced Charles Figley, Ph.D., a long-time friend and colleague to Dr. Roger Callahan who developed Thought Field Therapy. Dr. Callahan approached Meshad with the opportunity to study the effect of TFT therapy on veterans who suffered from PTSD. Impressed by the amazing results of this study, Shad has become a certified TFT diagnostician and practitioner, offering seminars on Levels I and II TFT nationwide.
In 2000 Shad founded Quantum Performance Institute with the goal of utilizing the amazing power of energy psychology techniques in the area of negative emotional states and attaining one's optimum performance level. (More information follows, from a separate bio) For more than 30 years, National Veterans Foundation (NVF) Founder and President Shad Meshad has
worked as a therapist for veterans and an advocate for veterans’
rights. After receiving his master’s degree in psychiatric social work
from Florida State University, he enlisted in the army in 1970, and
served as a counselor for U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
Upon his return to the U.S., Meshad founded and directed the Vietnam
Veterans Re-Socialization Unit at the VA Hospital in Los Angeles,
California. It was the first program of its kind, focusing on the
readjustment problems of Vietnam veterans. During this time, Meshad was
among the first to study the disorder now known as Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder, or PTSD. In
1978, he worked to develop and lobby for the National Vietnam Veterans
Readjustment Bill. In 1979, he founded the Vet Center Outreach Program,
which now serves veterans in more than 200 locations across the country. In
1980, Meshad was nominated for the first Olin Teague Medal of Service
Award. In 1982, he published a memoir of his experiences in Vietnam,
entitled “Captain for Dark Mornings.” In 1985, he founded the Vietnam
Veterans Aid Foundation, which he later renamed the National Veterans
Foundation. He has served on the faculty of the International
Critical Incident Foundation; as President and Board Member of the
Association of Traumatic Stress Specialists; and, recently, was
appointed to the Board of Directors of the Green Cross Project. In
the wake of the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, Meshad was
called upon by the U.S. government to help train the critical incident
and trauma teams at Ground Zero. Today, Meshad consults and
teaches stress reduction and anger management techniques to mental
health, law enforcement, and critical incident professionals through
Quantum Performance Institute, a firm he established in 2001. He
continues his work with veterans in the Los Angeles area, helping them
through the process of healing and readjustment.
The Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology has an upcoming conference scheduled on Friday, June 13th, from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm, entitled "Returning War Veterans: Meeting Health Needs of Veterans, Families and Communities." The program, which is the 31st Erich Lindemann memorial lecture, will feature a panel discussion, including longtime veterans advocate and VA psychiatrist, Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., winner of a MacArthur grant and the author of several important books on understanding the psychology of combat veterans: both Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character, and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming.
CE Credits: |
2.5 (for Psychologists, Social Workers, Nurses & LMHCs) |
Tuition: |
$20.00 (for CE Credits) Open to the Professional Community and the Public, No Admission Charge. Pre-registration requested. Call 617-327-6777 x 282 to reserve your seat. |
|
Speakers: Jaine L. Darwin, Psy.D., Supervising Analyst, Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis; Clinical Instructor in Psychology, Dept. of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Co-Chair, SOFAR Project—Strategic Outreach to Families of All Reservists
Richard T. Moore, M.A., State Senator and Chairman of the Health Care Financing Committee; General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D.., Staff Psychiatrist, Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, Boston; Author of Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994); and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2000); MacArthur Foundation Fellowship Award (2007)
Moderator David G. Satin, M.D., DLFAPA, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Chairman, Erich Lindemann Memorial Lecture Committee |
The program is sponsored by The Erich Lindemann Memorial Lecture Committee, and The Erich Lindemann Community Mental Health Education Center Initiative of the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in cooperation with The North Suffolk Mental Health Association Board of Directors.
For further information about the program, including registration, click here. To read our previous blog entries about Dr. Shay, click here, here and here.
James S. Gordon, MD, a Harvard-educated psychiatrist,is a world-renowned expert in using mind-body medicine to heal depression,anxiety,and psychological trauma. He is the Founder and Director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine, a Clinical Professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at Georgetown Medical School, and recently served as Chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. He also served as the first Chair of the Program Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Alternative Medicine and is a former member of the Cancer Advisory Panel on Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the NIH.
Dr. Gordon has devoted over 35 years to the exploration and practice of mind-body medicine. After gradating Harvard Medical School, he was for 10 years a research psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health. There he developed the first national program for runaway and homeless youth, edited the first comprehensive studies of alternative and holistic medicine, directed the Special Study on Alternative Services for President Carter’s Commission on Mental Health, and created a nationwide preceptorship program for medical students.
Dr. Gordon has created ground-breaking programs of comprehensive mind-body healing for physicians, medical students, and other health professionals; for people with cancer, depression and other chronic illnesses; and for traumatized children and families in Bosnia, Kosovo, Israel and Gaza as well as in post-9/11 New York and post-Katrina southern Louisiana. Nearly 3,000 health and mental health professionals throughout these regions have been trained by Dr. Gordon to more effectively address the psychological trauma within their communities, including supervision and training of a local leadership group within each region which enables the CMBM model to be fully integrated into and sustainable within the local healthcare community.
Dr. Gordon’s most recent book is Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression (Penguin Press). His also the author of Comprehensive Cancer Care: Integrating Alternative, Complementary and Conventional Therapies and Manifesto for a New Medicine: Your Guide to Healing Partnerships and the Wise Use of Alternative Therapies (both Perseus Books). In addition, Dr. Gordon has written or edited 9 other books, including the award-winning Health for the Whole Person, and more than 120 articles in professional journals and general magazines and newspapers, among them the American Journal of Psychiatry, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, Journal of Traumatic Stress, Psychiatry, The American Family Physician, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. He also helped develop and write the educational materials to supplement the public television series “Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers”.
Dr. Gordon’s work has been featured on Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, CBS Sunday Morning, FOX News and National Public Radio, as well as in The Washington Post, USA Today, Newsweek, People, American Medical News, Clinical Psychiatry News, Town and Country, Hippocrates, Psychology Today, Vegetarian Times, Natural Health, Health, and Prevention.
In the coming months and years, more OIF/OEF veterans will need attorneys' help in getting disability payments they're entitled to, and representing them in the occasional criminal matter. It's important for veterans and their families to find experienced attorneys who are knowledgeable about veterans' issues, and ideally are also compassionately disposed towards veterans and their families, and the particular struggles they might undergo, including PTSD. We can think of several cases from the past few years, where returning veterans with PTSD committed crimes and needed representation that could effectively convey their side to a judge or jury: Daniel Cotnoir, Eric Acevedo, and, had he lived, Travis Twiggs (for the carjacking and resisting arrest in the ensuing police chase). Thrown back on their own or their families' limited resources, veterans who have been charged with a crime may end up a) looking through the phone book or b) getting a public defender appointed by the court to represent them. While there's nothing wrong with these approaches, they're also pretty subject to chance. What we'd like to see, over time, is a network develop of attorneys across the country who have a special expertise and concern for representing veterans in healthcare and criminal matters (not many attorneys will do both, but some undoubtedly will.)
To find a qualified attorney, consult your local state or county bar assocation's lawyer referral line, or learn how to use Martindale-Hubbell, the directory of lawyers across the United States. "AV" is the highest rating that lawyers receive in Martindale-Hubbell, conferred by their legal peers; so finding an "AV" rated lawyer to represent you would be a best-case scenario; although the lack of this rating does not imply substandard service or qualifcations. If you choose an attorney on your own (i.e., through the phone book), be sure to also check the lawyer's background with the local bar association to see whether he or she has ever been sanctioned or disbarred in the past (better safe than sorry!). Use this tool, provided by the American Bar Association, to find the state or local bar association in your area.
Periodically we learn of a lawyer who seems to have a special expertise or affinity for representing veterans. When we learn of such a lawyer, we'd like to include their information here, so it will be readily available to more potential clients. Mentioning the name here does not imply an endorsement, but is an attempt to make resources available to interested parties. We have no way of knowing about the quality of legal representation offered.
In disability matters, we've learned about the Law Offices of Robert Franklin Howell, in Monterey, CA, linked here. Howell is both a longtime practicing attorney, and a combat veteran. To learn about his disability law practice, click here. To contact him directly, click here.
In criminal matters, we've learned about attorney Jim Lane, whose Fort Worth, TX firm is linked here. Lane, who has practiced law for approximately 40 years, was a captain in the U.S. Army as well as a military JAG officer. His specialties including personal injury, criminal defense (felonies and misdemeanors), and court martials. To contact him directly, click here.
Just a word of wisdom here, based on common sense: when you do go to consult an attorney, make the most of both of your time by having written down the facts of your case in advance, and, as much as possible, keep your initial contact short and sweet. Be aware that the first point of contact in many lawyers' offices is a receptionist or a legal assistant, who is not empowered to handle your case. Do not overwhelm that person with your needs and desires, nor the attorney, when you are able to speak with him or her. Keep it to the facts, take notes on what's discussed and what the game plan is, and bring someone along with you to your first meeting, if you feel that you are likely to be too emotionally involved in your own case to listen well or take good notes. Learn how to be a good client, and you'll go farther with a good lawyer. Clients do occasionally wear out their attorneys or get fired by them for being too difficult, which is very unfortunate, and will not help your getting closure. Here is a good article about how to be a good client. It's directed to family law, but the tips it suggest apply to other areas as well. Read it and consider what it says (linked here.)
A great quotable quote from PTSD expert, Frank M. Ochberg, M.D., who once said: "PTSD is a medical condition. The most important thing we can do to help our loved ones with PTSD is to be the most informed person on your block about PTSD."
BSc(Hons) (Wales), MBBCh (Wales) PhD(London), FFPH(UK) University of Melbourne
(Retired) Professor, School of Public Health, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Queensland, AUSTRALIA.
Professor Hedley Peach is a Visiting Consultant at the Ballarat Base Hospital, and Professional Fellow at the University of Melbourne.
Professor Hedley Peach qualified as a doctor in Wales where he became interested in the social causes of illness. This interest led him to train in community medicine at the renowned St. Thomas's Hospital in London where he worked for seven years as a lecturer/senior lecturer. In 1985 he migrated to Australia where he was Foundation Professor of Tropical Health at James Cook University for three years and, subsequently, Professor of Community Medicine at Melbourne University for fourteen years. He retired earlier this year but continues as an honorary Professorial Fellow of Melbourne University. He has been interested in the nexus between religion, spirituality and health for a number of years. In 2002, he wrote the first article on this topic to appear in the Medical Journal of Australia to stimulate debate on how the medical profession should respond to research and recommendations from the USA. He has authored book chapters and papers on spirituality and women's health, the religions of rural Australians, and other topics. He has given many radio and newspaper interviews on spirituality and health. He is the author of several books, including The Epidemiology of Common Diseases and Disablement in the Community, as well as the leading author of more than 100 articles in scientific journals. He is a member of the National Heart Foundation's expert group on psychosocial causes of heart disease.
Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, a colonel in the United States Army, holds a master's degree in public health and a medical degree. She trained at Harvard University, George Washington University, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where she is an associate professor of psychiatry. Her assignments and other missions have taken her to Iraq, Israel, Korea, Somalia, and Vietnam. She brings a unique public health approach to the management of disaster and combat mental health issues and is internationally renowned as an expert on the subject. She also has published numerous articles on forensic, disaster, and military operational psychiatry. She is the recipient of the William Porter and Bruno Lima awards. Ritchie is currently the psychiatry consultant to the US Army Surgeon General. She is also the author of "Interventions Following Mass Violence and Disasters: Strategies for Mental Health Practice."
Kathie Costos, also known as "Nam Guardian Angel," is a certified, ordained Chaplain and member of the International Fellowship of Chaplains ("IFOC"). The daughter of a Korean War veteran, and the wife of a Vietnam veteran, she has been active in veterans issues since the 1970s. For the last 25+ years, she has focused on Vietnam veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
As a chaplain with a devout Greek orthodox background, Kathie nevertheless believes that "no matter what church people belong to, they belong to the family of God as God's children." Years of volunteering with Vietnam veterans and their families has taught her to take care of the spiritual needs of people and not just the already "faithful."
Kathie is the author of a well-regarded book, called For the Love of Jack, His War/My Battle -- about how her family coped with the legacy of PTSD that her husband returned with from the Vietnam War. She self-published the book immediately after 9/11, out of concern that the word needed to get out about what PTSD was, before many more people began to suffer from it. The book is available for downloading on her website, and Kathie has also produced many educational videos about PTSD that are also available on her website. A list of those videos include the following, but because Kathie is always expanding the list of videos she's made about this topic so close to her heart, it also makes sense to "favorite" her on YouTube, where a list of all her videos is linked, here. A list of those videos current as of this writing include the following (each is hyperlinked to YouTube or Google video, so you can watch them directly):
A link to Kathie's website about PTSD is here. For a direct link to the book she wrote about her husband and family surviving PTSD, click here. For a link to her ever-expanding list of videos about PTSD and veterans, click here.
A favorite quote of Kathie's: "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." -- George Washington.
William P. Nash, M.D., is an active duty Captain in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, with nearly thirty years of active military service. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois, College of Medicine, in Chicago, and of psychiatry residency training at Naval Medical Center, San Diego. In addition to leading two Navy SPRINT crisis response teams, he has directed two Navy psychiatry residency training programs, and has served as the Director of Clinical Services of the hospital ship USNS MERCY. CAPT Nash has been stationed with the Marine Corps since 2000, including deploying to Iraq in 2004 with the 1st Marine Division as a psychiatrist embedded with ground combat forces. He was awarded a bronze star medal for his service in Iraq in support of combat operations there. Since October, 2005, CAPT Nash has been stationed at Headquarters, Marine Corps, in Quantico, Virginia, where he directs and coordinates combat/operational stress control policies and programs for the United States Marine Corps. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and has co-edited a book with Charles R. Figley, Ph.D., released in late 2006, entitled Combat Stress Injury.
Georg-Andreas Pogany is a retired Sergeant First Class (SFC) and Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran. After obtaining a bachelor's in criminology from the University of South Florida, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve. In 1998, he switched services and enlisted in the Army, where he trained as a nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialist. In 2003, he was deployed to Iraq as part of a Special Forces unit. There, he became incapacitated by toxic drug levels from the anti-malarial drug Lariam/Mefloquine. He was sent to Fort Carson, Colo., where he was diagnosed with a related brain injury. He received treatment and shortly thereafter was honorably discharged.
Since his retirement from the Army, he has worked as a veteran's and active duty service member advocate on health care, combat stress, and military justice. He created and manages "J1W2," Just One Wounded Warrior, which connects veterans and active duty service members with mental health care professionals.
Barbara V. Romberg, Founder and Executive Director of Give an Hour, is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been practicing in the Washington, D.C., area for 16 years. She specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of children.
Dr. Romberg has spent her career interacting with and coordinating services within large systems, including school districts and mental health clinics. In addition, for many years, she served as an adjunct faculty member at George Washington University, where she trained and supervised developing clinicians. She received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland in 1991.
Concerned about the mental health implications of the Iraq War, Dr. Romberg founded Give an Hour in 2005. Give an Hour is a nonprofit organization that is creating a national network of mental health professionals who are providing free services to U.S. troops, veterans and their families.
Editor's note: For a link to Give an Hour, click here.
Jennifer J. Vasterling serves as the Chief of Psychology at the VA Boston Healthcare System and as a clinical investigator within the Behavioral Sciences Division of the National Center for PTSD.
Dr. Vasterling also is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane University School of Medicine. She obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1988. Trained as a clinical neuropsychologist, Dr. Vasterling's research has centered on furthering understanding of the cognitive and emotional changes that accompany war-zone deployment and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Her recent work includes a longitudinal study examining neuropsychological and emotional outcomes of the Iraq War. This effort is unique in that it tracks the mental health of deploying soldiers, starting when they are deployed and following them after they return from Iraq.
Charles R. Figley, Ph.D. is Director and Professor, Florida State University Traumatology Institute, and Editor of Traumatology (Sage Publications). He has published nearly 200 scholarly papers and 19 books since 1973. His first book, Stress Disorders among Vietnam Veterans: Theory, Research, and Treatment (Brunner/Mazel, 1978), is recognized as the first comprehensive analysis of the immediate and long-term psychosocial consequences of war on the combatants. This was followed by Strangers at Home: Vietnam Veterans since the War (Praeger, 1980). His latest book, with Navy Captain and psychiatrist William Nash, is Combat Stress Injury (Routledge, 2007). He is a former Vietnam veteran and Marine who has worked closely with all branches of the military to help combatants and their families and those who care for them (corpsmen, medics, nurses, physicians, social workers, psychologists, chaplains, and their superiors who evaluate them). The Green Cross Academy of Traumatology, which he founded in 1995, is working with other NGOs to help returning veterans and their families.
For a link to Dr. Figley's home page at Florida State University, click here. For a downloadable copy of his c.v., click here. For a link to the Traumatology journal, click here.
Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D. has been a staff psychiatrist at the Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic, Boston since 1987, where his only patients have been combat veterans with severe psychological injuries. In 2007, he was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" for his work with veterans. Shay is the author of Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (1994) and of Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming (2002), the latter of which has a foreword authored jointly by US Senators John McCain and Max Cleland.
Between September 1, 2004 and August 31, 2005, Dr. Shay was Chair of Ethics, Leadership, and Personnel Policy in the Office of the US Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, and earlier was Visiting Scholar-at-Large at the US Naval War College (2001) and performed the Commandant of the Marine Corps Trust Study (1999-2000).
Jonathan Shay received a B.A. (1963) from Harvard University and an M.D. (1971) and Ph.D. (1972) from the University of Pennsylvania. For a link to his bio on the MacArthur Foundation site, click here. For an interesting bio of Dr. Shay that was published some years ago in the New York Times, go here.
Mr. Fred D. Gusman, M.S.W. is an internationally recognized figure in the mental health field. Mr. Gusman's expertise in the arena of traumatic stress is based on the firm foundation of his own military service coupled with his 30 years of clinical, research, and consultative experiences in the field of traumatic stress, combat stress, PTSD, disaster mental health services, and mental health programs development. He is an expert educator, clinician, program administrator and developer, and is a frequently sought after consultant to those in the field of traumatic stress. His knowledge base is informed by a noteworthy career and varieties of roles and experiences. Mr. Gusman pioneered and developed the nation's first residential rehabilitation programs for men and women veterans at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System (VAPAHCS). Under his vision, guidance, and leadership, the programs have served thousands of veterans during the course of the last thirty years. In addition to this role, he has been called upon to serve in diverse capacities for the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institute of Mental Health, Department of Defense, American Red Cross, Federal Governmental Committees, in numerous community and state programs throughout the country and in Europe, and in numerous natural and man-made disasters, e.g. September 11th terrorist attack on the Pentagon). During the last two years, Mr. Gusman has provided numerous consultations and clinical trainings to various branches of the Department of Defense such as: Marine Corp Community Services (MCCS) staff and Marine Corps Family Services staff (various US mainland sites); the National Guard (Hawaii's 29th Infantry Brigade) and their families, and; Army personnel at Hawaii's Schofield Barracks-Soldier Retransition Center and the Family Retransition Center. Finally, Mr. Gusman is a collaborator on various research studies and author/co-author of numerous research and clinical publications.
Dr. Scurfield is Professor of Social Work, Director of the Katrina Research Center and President of the Gulf Coast Faculty Council, University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast. He was the 2006 Mississippi NASW social Worker of the Year for his post-Katrina efforts, and he continues to provide counseling at the University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast to students, faculty and staff. His MSW and DSW are from the University of Southern California. He was a social work Army officer on a psychiatric team in Vietnam (1968-69) and has co-led return trips to peace-time Vietnam in 1989 and 2000.
Previously, Dr. Scurfield had a 25-year career with the Department of Veterans Affairs in which he directed several regional and national Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) programs from Washington, DC to Tacoma, WA, to Hawaii and American Samoa. He has over 60 publications, has been PI or Co-PI in several PTSD research studies, has given over 350 presentations in the U.S. and abroad and has made numerous media appearances, to include 60 Minutes, Nightline, Nightwatch, National Public Radio and numerous NPR-affiliated radio stations nationwide. Dr. Scurfield has been active in post-disaster interventions and is a certified Compassion Fatigue Educator and Compassion Fatigue Therapist. Dr. Scurfield’s most recent writings are about post-Katrina interventions on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. His November, 2004, book was the first book in a series, A Vietnam Trilogy. Veterans and Post Traumatic Stress, 1968, 1989 & 2000. The second and third books in the trilogy were published in 2006: Healing Journeys. Study Abroad with Vietnam Veterans, and Volume 3, War Trauma. Lessons Unlearned From Vietnam to Iraq that describes over 30 unlearned lessons about war, its impact and what to do about it.
To download Prof. Monsour's CV, click Download raymond_monsour_scurfield.doc .
Darrah Westrup, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her degree from West Virginia University and completed two years additional training in behavioral medicine at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University Medical Center. She is currently working as attending in the Women's Trauma Recovery Program at the National Center for PTSD, and is the program director of the Women's Mental Health Center, VA Palo Alto Health Care System. Westrup also maintains a private practice based in Menlo Park, CA. She has clinical and research expertise in the areas of PTSD, substance abuse, stalking behavior, and experiential avoidance as it relates to psychological dysfunction.
Darrah Westrup, Ph.D., is one of the co-authors of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide to Using Mindfulness & Acceptance Strategies. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications (2007).
Commander Beverly Dexter, Ph.D., is an Active Duty U.S. Navy Psychologist who has served three tours with Marines in the U.S. and Iraq. She is a warfare qualified former Navy Special Operations Officer (salvage diver and ship driver) and former Navy Supply Corps Officer. She completed operational tours on four Navy ships and frequently gives professional military presentations on leadership, resilience building for military families and prevention and treatment of trauma. CDR Dexter has lived military life as a single person, double active duty couple, "dependent" wife and mom, deployed mom, stationed overseas and deployed to a combat zone. She is the Founder and Chairman of the EMDR International Association Military Special Interest Group and the ISTSS Military Special Interest Group. Dr Dexter is a leader in the effort to improve trauma treatment for Active Duty, Reservists, and National Guard returning from combat and for their families, and has considerable experience serving Army National Guard troops in Iraq. Dr Dexter is EMDRIA Certified in EMDR and a Fellow and on the Speaker’s Bureau of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. Author of the forthcoming book, No More Nightmares: How to Use Planned Dream Intervention to End Nightmares (scheduled for release in 2008), she has taught her original theory of Planned Dream Intervention to thousands of individuals who have experienced rapid resolution of recurring dreams and nightmares.
Following up on our coverage of Jonathan Shay, M.D, Ph.D., winning his well-deserved MacArthur Foundation "genuis grant," NPR did a nice story this week on Dr. Shay as well. Click here to read or listen to the story. There's also an audio file of Dr. Shay discussing how a scene from the Odyssey "relates to soldiers back from Iraq today."
A wonderful profile that's still on the Web is the one profiling prolific combat trauma expert Jonathan Shay, M.D., in the New York Times from 2003. Click here to find it on its website. Shay is a towering figure in the field, having written several of the pre-eminent works (see sidebar), and the profile tells an interesting story of the turns Shay's own life took leading him to the study of combat trauma, and helping veterans survive the turmoil of their post-combat lives. (Shays' books include "Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character," and "Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming."
Brian Turner: My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir
David Finkel: Thank You for Your Service
Jessica Goodell: Shade it Black: Death and After in Iraq
Matt Gallagher, editor: Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War
Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families
My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story
Aaron Glantz: The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans
Ashley Gilbertson: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: A Photographer's Chronicle of the Iraq War
Bing West: No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah
Brandon Friedman: The War I Always Wanted: The Illusion of Glory and the Reality of War
Cdr. Richard Jadick: On Call In Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story
Clint Van Winkle: Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Col. Kim Olson USAF (Ret.): Iraq and Back: Inside the War to Win the Peace
Colby Buzzell: My War: Killing Time in Iraq
Colby Buzzell: Thank You For Being Expendable: And Other Experiences (Byliner Selects)
Craig M. Mullaney: The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education
David Bellavia: House to House
David Finkel: The Good Soldiers
David J. Danelo: Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq
Devin Friedman: This Is Our War: A Soldiers' Portfolio: Servicemen's Photographs of Life in Iraq
Dexter Filkins: The Forever War (Vintage)
Donovan Campbell: Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Elise Forbes Tripp: Surviving Iraq: Soldiers' Stories
Evan Wright: Generation Kill
Heidi Squier Kraft: Rule Number Two: Lessons I Learned in a Combat Hospital
Ilario Pantano: Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy
Jackie Spinner: Tell Them I Didn't Cry: A Young Journalist's Story of Joy, Loss, and Survival in Iraq
Jason Christopher Hartley: Just Another Soldier: A Year on the Ground in Iraq
Jason Christopher Hartley: Just Another Soldier: A Year on the Ground in Iraq
Jeremiah Workman: Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption
Jessica Goodell: SHADE IT BLACK: Death and After in Iraq
Jim Lommasson: Exit Wounds: Soldiers' Stories - Life after Iraq and Afghanistan
John Crawford: The Last True Story I'll Every Tell: An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq
Kayla Williams: Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army
Kayla Williams: Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War
Kelly Kennedy: They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq
Kirsten Holmstedt: Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq
Kirsten Holmstedt: The Girls Come Marching Home: The Saga of Women Returning from the War in Iraq
Lily Burana: I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love, War and Other Battles
Luis Carlos Montalván: Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him
M. B. Wilmot: Quixote in Ramadi: An Indigenous Account of Imperialism
Marcus Luttrell: Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
Matthew Currier Burden: The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
Michael Anthony: Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception, and Dishonor in Iraq
Michael C. Hodges: A Doctor Looks at War: My Year in Iraq
Michael M. Phillips: The Gift of Valor: A War Story
Michael Weisskopf: Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57
Michael Yon: Danger Close
Nate Self: Two Wars: One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts--Abroad and Within
Nathaniel C. Fick: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
Patrick K. O'Donnell: We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder With the Marines Who Took Fallujah
Paul Rieckhoff: Chasing Ghosts: Failures and Facades in Iraq: A Soldier's Perspective
Phil Klay: Redeployment
Rhonda Cornum: She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story
Rinker Buck: Shane Comes Home
Sean Michael Flynn: The Fighting 69th: From Ground Zero to Baghdad
Sean Naylor: Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda
Shannon Meehan: Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq
Tim Pritchard: Ambush Alley: The Most Extraordinary Battle of the Iraq War
Trish Wood: What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It
Tyler E. Boudreau: Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine (Feral House)
USMC, Maj. Seth W. B. Folsom: The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq
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