VA mental health help

waltky · Feb 11, 2013

More mental health help for veterans...

VA has added 1,000 mental health professionals to staff
February 11, 2013 WASHINGTON The Veterans Affairs Department said Monday it has added more than 1,000 mental health professionals and 200 support staff over the past eight months to meet the needs of returning veterans, but still has more to do to meet the requirements of an executive order issued by President Barack Obama.

The VA needs to add about 550 more doctors, nurses and counselors by June 30 to comply with the executive order. The VA announced new hiring goals in the spring, just days before an inspector general's report found the department had greatly overstated how quickly it provided mental health care to veterans seeking help. Obama expanded on that goal in August as both presidential candidates were reaching out to veterans in the heat of an election campaign. He also directed the VA to increase the capacity of its telephone crisis line by 50 percent and to ensure that a mental health professional contact within 24 hours any veteran who identifies themselves as in crisis.

The House Veterans' Affairs Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday to examine what progress the VA has made in its hiring program and in other mental health initiatives. VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said the VA would not be slowing down in its effort to increase staffing. The new hires include psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and licensed counselors and therapists, although there was not an exact breakdown for each category. "We still need to hire more mental health professionals to reach our goal, but each new hire means we can treat more veterans and provide greater access to our mental health services," Shinseki said.

The VA also said it was still working on hiring and training 800 veterans to work as "peer specialists" on the VA's mental health teams. Some veterans are more comfortable reaching out to peers who have shared their experiences in serving during wartime. The peer staff is expected to be completely hired by Dec. 31. The number of veterans getting mental health treatment from the VA has risen from about 927,000 in 2006 to more than 1.3 million in 2012.

http://www.stripes.com/news/va-has-added-1-000-mental-health-professionals-to-staff-1.207505
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pimptight · Feb 12, 2013

So sad that this thread gets no traffic.

Abortion is murder/a right.

Will you sheeple post in here now?

waltky · May 2, 2016

It's tough bein' a marine...

Mental Health Stigma Debilitates Some Marines
May 02, 2016 | Lance Cpl. James Nuzzolillo knew he needed to seek help after he had a breakdown, crying and hyperventilating in an office at Camp Lejeune.

Nuzzolillo hesitated to seek help. He didn't want to be labeled as "that guy," he said. He added that no one wants to be "that guy" who falls out of a hike, or "that guy" who can't complete a run. Essentially, no one wants to show any sign of vulnerability. Mental health is often associated with a stigma and within the United States' Marine Corps, that stigma is heightened by a need to eliminate weakness.

Marines need help, too

Marines protect their homes, their country, their families. They protect strangers who won't ever thank them for the sacrifices they make on a daily basis. The sacrifices begin in boot camp when recruits are first subjected to the demanding actions asked of them. They are screamed at and pushed to their limits through obstacle courses and rifle training. Recruits endure 13 weeks of boot camp before performing the ultimate test -- The Crucible. In 54 hours' time recruits survive on limited food and sleep to overcome obstacle after obstacle at the end of their boot camp journey. And that's all before they officially become a Marine.

Recruits from Charlie Company use teamwork to climb a 15-foot wall, Dec. 13, 2012, at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C

In return, society often views Marines as tough -- so tough they shouldn't need help. While most agree Marines are some of the most resilient men and women in America, the daily strains of their jobs can take a toll on their mental well-being. Being away from their loved ones for months to years at a time, seeing combat and feeling the pressure of the image of strength they're sometimes expected to portray affects them.

Nuzzolillo, 25, said he was having heavy suicidal thoughts. When the thoughts started, his first instinct was to suppress them, to eliminate that weakness. "I didn't think I needed any help," he said. He explained how he was feeling to his gunnery sergeant and Nuzzolillo was told that since he hadn't seen combat, he shouldn't have these feelings. "It made me feel like I didn't deserve to feel how I felt," Nuzzolillo said.

Receiving push-back
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Headstone Fixes Error for MoH Recipient More than 140 Years Later
May 02, 2016 | A Canadian-born sailor was remembered during a ceremony in Washington last week, more than 140 years after a heroic deed earned him America's highest military medal -- a honor that was omitted on his headstone.

Medal of Honor recipient Joseph B. Noil, who moved from Nova Scotia to New York and joined the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, was honored with a new headstone Friday during a ceremony at St. Elizabeths Hospital Cemetery attended by family members, veterans and representatives from the Canadian embassy. Noil's original memorial also misspelled his name. Historians from the Medal of Honor Historical Society investigated Noil's case and corrected the oversight that was "likely because of a clerical error on his death certificate," a Navy statement said.

The day after Christmas 1872, while serving aboard the USS Powhatan near Norfolk, Virginia, Noil jumped into the frigid Atlantic Ocean to save shipmate J.C. Walton from drowning. After hearing the man overboard cry, Noil "ran on deck, took the end of a rope, went overboard, under the bow, and caught Mr. Walton, who was then in the water, and held him until he was hauled into the boat sent to his rescue," the ship's commander wrote in a memo published Jan. 11, 1873, in the Army and Navy Journal. "The weather was bitter cold, and had been sleeting, and it was blowing a gale from the northwest at the time. Mr. Walton, when brought on board, was almost insensible, and would have perished but for the noble conduct of Noil, as he was sinking at the time he was rescued."

District of Columbia Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Veterans Affairs Tammi Lambert, left, and Director of the Department of Behavioral Health Tanya A. Royster unveil the headstone for Medal of Honor recipient Joseph Noil.

Noil, who retired with a captain in hold rank in 1881 after being hospitalized with a "paralysis" diagnosis, died the following year, the statement said. "Your shipmate is not simply someone who happens to serve with you," Vice Adm. Robin Braun, chief of Naval Reserve, said at the ceremony. "He or she is someone who you know that you can trust and count on to stand by you in good times and bad and who will forever have your back. So by ... rededicating his headstone, we are not only correcting a wrong, we are highlighting and reinforcing the eternal bond which exists between shipmates past, present and those yet to come."

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...r-for-moh-recipient-more-140-years-later.html
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waltky · Aug 4, 2016

Mental illness, drug abuse on rise among veterans...

Drug Abuse, Mental Illness Rise Among Veterans: VA Report
Aug 04, 2016 | The number of Department of Veterans Affairs patients with diagnosed mental health or substance abuse issues increased between 2001 and 2014, according to a report on veteran suicide newly released by the VA.

Between 2001 and 2014, the rate of mental health disorders and substance abuse disorders climbed from 27 percent to 40 percent, the Aug. 3 report states. Data on mental health and substance abuse were examined as part of the study, officials wrote, because those diseases are connected with a higher risk of suicide. But the study also found that the suicide rate among VA patients with those disorders decreased from 77.6 per 100,000 to 57 between 2001 and 2014 despite that correlation.

The report, the most comprehensive study yet on veteran suicide, is based on a review of Defense Department records, records from each state and data from the Centers for Disease Control, VA officials said. Highlights from the report were released in early July. "The effort advances VA's knowledge from the previous report in 2012, which was primarily limited to information on Veterans who used [Veterans Health Administration] health services or from mortality records obtained directly from 20 states and approximately 3 million records," VA officials said in a release. Among early released findings was the conclusion that an average of 20 veterans take their lives each day, and that 65 percent of all veterans who committed suicide in 2014 were over age 50.

Veterans, the report says, accounted for 18 percent of all suicide deaths among U.S. adults, down from 22 percent in 2010. The risk of suicide is 21 percent greater for veterans than for the U.S. civilian population, it says. Among a laundry list of actions the VA says it is taking to address the veteran suicide issue are expanding the Veterans Crisis Line, "predictive modeling" to determine which veterans are most at risk for suicide and "ensuring same-day access for Veterans with urgent mental health needs at over 1,000 points of care by the end of calendar year 2016," it said in a release.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...ss-rise-among-veterans-va-report.html[/quote]
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waltky · Jan 19, 2017

When Granny's brain's on fire she talks a blue streak...

Study: Talk Therapy Changes Brain Wiring in Mental Illness
January 19, 2017 | WASHINGTON — For the first time, researchers have shown that talk therapy improves symptoms in people with mental disorders. They say it strengthens connections in the brain, with long-lasting improvements.

Talk therapy has tended to get short shrift in the treatment of people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. Usually, medications are the first treatment doctors reach for to lessen symptoms of psychiatric disorders. This is especially true in the case of people who suffer from psychosis marked by abnormal thoughts. Psychosis is common in schizophrenia and some severe forms of depression. But researchers at King's College London have shown that a combination of medications along a kind of talk therapy, known as cognitive behavior therapy or CBT, not only improves symptoms in people who suffer from false beliefs, but the changes can last a long time.

Liam Mason is a clinical psychologist at King’s College who led the study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry. Using brain imaging, Mason and colleagues saw connections between two brain regions strengthen in patients following a six month course of CBT. The improvements occurred between the amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and emotion, and the frontal lobes, which are involved in thinking and reasoning. “And what we are really excited about here is that these stronger connections appear to be linked to long term improvement in people’s symptoms and recovery, even as much as eight years later,” said Mason.

An image illustrates activity in a human brain.

In the original study, a group of participants suffering from psychotic symptoms took medication. Some also received cognitive therapy, while the others did not. Researchers saw an improvement in brain connectivity in those who had talk therapy that was not seen in the non-CBT group. Investigators then followed 15 of the 22 CBT patients for eight years, using medical records and questionnaires. They found the participants’ level of recovery and well-being was still improved, without additional therapy.

Mason says the finding shows an association between talk therapy and long-term recovery in patients who had been haunted by paranoid beliefs. “Traditionally, the only interventions or treatments that have been offered are medication and even surgery in the past as well,” said Mason. "So I think, and the whole research team are really excited about, these findings that show that actually it's possible to have these brain changes from psychological therapies as well.” Investigators will now try to confirm their findings in a larger study of patients with mental illness. Researchers hope the results could lead to more refined and improved treatments for people who suffer from psychiatric illness.

http://www.voanews.com/a/talk-therapy-changes-brain-wiring-in-mental-illness/3683598.html
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Sauna Visits May Help Keep Brain Healthy, Study Finds
January 19, 2017 — Regular visits to the sauna can help lower the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease as well as dying of heart ailments, a Finnish study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found a link between sauna visits and memory diseases after following more than 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men for more than 20 years. In the study, men who went to the sauna four to seven times a week were found 66 percent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia, and 65 percent less likely with Alzheimer's disease, than those taking a sauna once a week. "We have taken into account other lifestyle factors, like physical activity and socioeconomic factors.... There is an independent effect of sauna on these outcomes," said Jari Laukkanen, senior researcher and a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Eastern Finland.

He noted that the study only indicated an association between the sauna and memory diseases, and the findings would have to be fleshed out through further studies with different age groups, other nationalities and women. The findings, published in the journal Age and Ageing in December, suggested however that the health benefits of sauna could extend from the heart to the brain.

People emerge into the cold open air from a free sauna set up for the holidays in the historical center of Helsinki, Finland

Previous results of the follow-up study have shown that men who spent time in a sauna seven times a week were less likely to die of heart problems, compared to those who only partook once a week. "In the sauna, the heart rate increases and we start to sweat. This is a bit like physical exercise," Laukkonen said. "After sauna, you may have lower blood pressure, and blood pressure is an important risk factor in cardiovascular and memory diseases. This may be one possible explanation for our findings," Laukkanen said.

Regular bathers at the Finnish Sauna Society, which has around 4,200 members in Helsinki, agree that good health many be linked to the relaxing effects of sauna visits. Club members go to the sauna several times a week, and in winter cool off with a swim in the icy Baltic Sea. "I feel relaxed after sauna, and it's a place where I can have a nice conversation with my friends. The social aspect is the best thing about sauna, when you get older," Hannu Pitkanen, a senior member of the sauna society, told Reuters.

http://www.voanews.com/a/finland-study-sauna-dementia/3683393.html
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Uncle Ferd goes to the sauna to chat up the ladies.

waltky · Nov 8, 2017

H.R. 918 passes House...

Vets Mental Health Care Act Passes House
7 Nov 2017 | The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act.

Veterans denied basic mental health care service benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs because of an "other than honorable" discharge may soon be able to receive the care they need. The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday unanimously passed the Veteran Urgent Access to Mental Healthcare Act, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Coffman, a Colorado Republican and Marine Corps combat veteran. "Today, this House sent a critical message to our men and women in uniform," Coffman said in a release. "That message is that you are not alone. We are here to help those suffering from the 'invisible' wounds of war. "The passage of [this bill] is an important bipartisan effort to ensure that our combat veterans receive the mental health care services they need. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to get this bill across the finish line," he said.

The legislation, H.R. 918, would require the VA to provide initial mental health assessments and services deemed necessary, including for those at risk of suicide and or of harming others, regardless of whether the individual has an "other than honorable" discharge. Currently, individuals who have such discharges, known as "bad paper," are not eligible for veteran benefits beyond some emergency mental health services. Veterans who received a dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge would still be ineligible to access the services. "It's important that we give all of our combat veterans, irrespective of the discharges they receive, access to mental health care through the Veterans [Affairs Department]," Coffman told Military.com during an interview in February, when he reintroduced the bill. He is the only House member to serve in both the first Iraq War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

At the time, Coffman said of the "bad-paper" separations, "I question the nature of the discharges in the first place, and I'm exploring that." A May 2017 Government Accountability Office report found 62 percent of the 91,764 service members separated for minor forms of misconduct between fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2015 had been diagnosed within two years prior to separation with post- traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury or other conditions that could be associated with their misconduct, according to the release. The bill applies to those with other-than-honorable discharges who served served in a combat zone or area of hostilities; piloted unmanned aircraft; or experienced a military sexual trauma. The VA secretary can sign off on outside care if specific care at a VA facility is clinically inadvisable; or if the VA is unable to provide necessary mental health care due to geographic location barriers.

H.R. 918 also requires the VA to establish a formal "character of service" determination process, triggering reviews of the "character of discharge" for potential eligibility of VA benefits. High Ground Veterans Advocacy, a grassroots organization training veterans to become leaders and activists in their local communities, has advocated for the move. "There are some veterans out there who've been waiting for this day for decades -- but there's still a fight ahead of us," said High Ground founder and chairman Kristofer Goldsmith. "Until the Senate passes this bill, and the president signs it -- some of our nation's most vulnerable veterans, who served between Vietnam and today's Forever Wars, are being denied the holistic care that they deserve from the VA," he said in an email.

Goldsmith continued, "Today, the House recognized that the United States has failed to care for hundreds of thousands of veterans in the way that they deserve -- veterans who were administratively discharged and stripped of a lifetime of essential benefits without the right to due process. “But the problem isn't yet fixed. Until Congress holds hearings dedicated to looking at the problem of bad-paper discharges, we won't have all available solutions on the table," he said.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/11/07/vets-mental-health-care-act-passes-house.html
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