Gulf War and Health

Gulf War and Health PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309101778
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The sixth in a series of congressionally mandated reports on Gulf War veterans' health, this volume evaluates the health effects associated with stress. Since the launch of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, there has been growing concern about the physical and psychological health of Gulf War and other veterans. In the late 1990s, Congress responded by asking the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review and evaluate the scientific and medical literature regarding associations between illness and exposure to toxic agents, environmental or wartime hazards, and preventive medicines or vaccines in members of the armed forces who were exposed to such agents. Deployment to a war zone has a profound impact on the lives of troops and on their family members. There are a plethora of stressors associated with deployment, including constant vigilance against unexpected attack, difficulty distinguishing enemy combatants from civilians, concerns about survival, caring for the badly injured, and witnessing the death of a person. Less traumatic but more pervasive stressors include anxiety about home life, such as loss of a job and income, impacts on relationships, and absence from family. The focus of this report, by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health: Physiologic, and Psychosocial Effects of Deployment-Related Stress, is the long-term effects of deployment-related stress. Gulf War and Health: Volume 6. Physiologic, and Psychosocial Effects of Development Related Stress evaluates the scientific literature regarding association between deployment-related stressors and health effects, and provides meaningful recommendations to remedy this problem.

Gulf War and Health

Gulf War and Health PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309101778
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
The sixth in a series of congressionally mandated reports on Gulf War veterans' health, this volume evaluates the health effects associated with stress. Since the launch of Operation Desert Storm in 1991, there has been growing concern about the physical and psychological health of Gulf War and other veterans. In the late 1990s, Congress responded by asking the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to review and evaluate the scientific and medical literature regarding associations between illness and exposure to toxic agents, environmental or wartime hazards, and preventive medicines or vaccines in members of the armed forces who were exposed to such agents. Deployment to a war zone has a profound impact on the lives of troops and on their family members. There are a plethora of stressors associated with deployment, including constant vigilance against unexpected attack, difficulty distinguishing enemy combatants from civilians, concerns about survival, caring for the badly injured, and witnessing the death of a person. Less traumatic but more pervasive stressors include anxiety about home life, such as loss of a job and income, impacts on relationships, and absence from family. The focus of this report, by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health: Physiologic, and Psychosocial Effects of Deployment-Related Stress, is the long-term effects of deployment-related stress. Gulf War and Health: Volume 6. Physiologic, and Psychosocial Effects of Development Related Stress evaluates the scientific literature regarding association between deployment-related stressors and health effects, and provides meaningful recommendations to remedy this problem.

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment PDF Author: David H. Marlowe
Publisher: RAND Corporation
ISBN: 9780833026859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
The overall patterns of research findings demonstrate that stress-such as that which characterized Gulf War deployment, combat, and return home-is a contributing factor to many illnesses. This book argues for greater understanding of the complexity of symptoms and potential causes of combat-related stress.

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment PDF Author: David H. Marlowe
Publisher: RAND Corporation
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The overall patterns of research findings demonstrate that stress-such as that which characterized Gulf War deployment, combat, and return home-is a contributing factor to many illnesses. This book argues for greater understanding of the complexity of symptoms and potential causes of combat-related stress.

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment with Special Emphasis on the Gulf War

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment with Special Emphasis on the Gulf War PDF Author: David H. Marlowe
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780833026859
Category : Combat
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description


Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan

Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309152852
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most critical challenges, and lays out the blueprint for the second phase of the study to determine how best to meet the needs of returning troops and their families.

Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces

Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309260558
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Problems stemming from the misuse and abuse of alcohol and other drugs are by no means a new phenomenon, although the face of the issues has changed in recent years. National trends indicate substantial increases in the abuse of prescription medications. These increases are particularly prominent within the military, a population that also continues to experience long-standing issues with alcohol abuse. The problem of substance abuse within the military has come under new scrutiny in the context of the two concurrent wars in which the United States has been engaged during the past decade-in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn). Increasing rates of alcohol and other drug misuse adversely affect military readiness, family readiness, and safety, thereby posing a significant public health problem for the Department of Defense (DoD). To better understand this problem, DoD requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) assess the adequacy of current protocols in place across DoD and the different branches of the military pertaining to the prevention, screening, diagnosis, and treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). Substance Use Disorders in the U.S. Armed Forces reviews the IOM's task of assessing access to SUD care for service members, members of the National Guard and Reserves, and military dependents, as well as the education and credentialing of SUD care providers, and offers specific recommendations to DoD on where and how improvements in these areas could be made.

Occupational Stress and Well-Being in Military Contexts

Occupational Stress and Well-Being in Military Contexts PDF Author: Peter D. Harms
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1787561836
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
This volume examines the causes and consequences of stress in the military, focussing on how stress and well-being shape the experiences of military personnel both in and out of the combat zone.

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment With Special Emphasis on the Gulf War

Psychological and Psychosocial Consequences of Combat and Deployment With Special Emphasis on the Gulf War PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This report investigates the possibility (i.e., that stress might have played a role in some of the undiagnosed illnesses among Persian Gulf War veterans (PGWV)), but the task is complex because the relationship between stress and physical and psychological symptoms is complex. The physical and psychological interact with each other, serving as both cause and effect. Individual differences make the task of teasing out cause from effect even more difficult. Two soldiers exposed to the same combat situation may react very differently. Also, how they react is shaped, in part, by cultural influences, which vary over time. The medical profession itself adds yet another layer of complexity. Doctors do not practice medicine in a vacuum. They are part of a culture and a profession, each of which may shape the way they respond to a patient's symptoms. In some instances, these anthropological influences have led to a search for a singular cause of the undiagnosed symptoms of Gulf War veterans. Furthermore, the veterans themselves are subject to cultural influences that condition their own responses to their illnesses.

Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services

Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309466601
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 467

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Book Description
Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.

The 71F Advantage

The 71F Advantage PDF Author: National Defense University Press
Publisher: NDU Press
ISBN: 1907521658
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 529

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Book Description
Includes a foreword by Major General David A. Rubenstein. From the editor: "71F, or "71 Foxtrot," is the AOC (area of concentration) code assigned by the U.S. Army to the specialty of Research Psychology. Qualifying as an Army research psychologist requires, first of all, a Ph.D. from a research (not clinical) intensive graduate psychology program. Due to their advanced education, research psychologists receive a direct commission as Army officers in the Medical Service Corps at the rank of captain. In terms of numbers, the 71F AOC is a small one, with only 25 to 30 officers serving in any given year. However, the 71F impact is much bigger than this small cadre suggests. Army research psychologists apply their extensive training and expertise in the science of psychology and social behavior toward understanding, preserving, and enhancing the health, well being, morale, and performance of Soldiers and military families. As is clear throughout the pages of this book, they do this in many ways and in many areas, but always with a scientific approach. This is the 71F advantage: applying the science of psychology to understand the human dimension, and developing programs, policies, and products to benefit the person in military operations. This book grew out of the April 2008 biennial conference of U.S. Army Research Psychologists, held in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting was to be my last as Consultant to the Surgeon General for Research Psychology, and I thought it would be a good idea to publish proceedings, which had not been done before. As Consultant, I'd often wished for such a document to help explain to people what it is that Army Research Psychologists "do for a living." In addition to our core group of 71Fs, at the Bethesda 2008 meeting we had several brand-new members, and a number of distinguished retirees, the "grey-beards" of the 71F clan. Together with longtime 71F colleagues Ross Pastel and Mark Vaitkus, I also saw an unusual opportunity to capture some of the history of the Army Research Psychology specialty while providing a representative sample of current 71F research and activities. It seemed to us especially important to do this at a time when the operational demands on the Army and the total force were reaching unprecedented levels, with no sign of easing, and with the Army in turn relying more heavily on research psychology to inform its programs for protecting the health, well being, and performance of Soldiers and their families."