he Mental Health Self-Assessment Program® (MHSAP) offers service personnel and their families the opportunity to take anonymous, mental health and alcohol use self-assessments online, via the phone, and through special events held at installations. The self-assessments are a brief series of questions that, when linked together, help create a picture of how an individual is feeling.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan - Most U.S. Navy medical personnel in the Pacific - military and civilian - will be banned from smoking or chewing tobacco anywhere during duty hours and while in uniform, in accordance with a recent Navy instruction.
1/23/2009 - RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Air Force Personnel Center officials here will begin to transfer health treatment records of retired and separated active, Guard and Reserve Airmen to the Department of Veterans Affairs Feb. 1.
Looking out for one's "battle buddy" while off duty as well as on has emerged as a central element of all four services' efforts to combat sexual assault within the ranks, service program managers told the House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee Friday.
Representatives from the National Amputee Golf Association this year teamed up with the military to introduce service personnel such as Clark to First Swing, a program designed to involve amputees in golf. First Swing representatives visited Fort Sam Houston recently.
The Military Health System is asking you to "Share Your Care" in a video contest that showcases the people, programs and facilities supporting the health of our service members and families!
The Share Your Care contest, is open to all service members, their families and MHS personnel, and it runs Feb. 27 through March 30, 2009.
More than 80 U.S. military personnel contracted malaria last year despite all the medications and precautions made available to the forces, according to a recent Pentagon study.
Doctor uses music's healing power
PBS special titled "Healthy Minds," a 13-part educational series in its second season on New York's WLIW 21. The show will focus on how soldiers deal with post traumatic stress disorder and how military and medical personnel are helping alleviate it. The program will focus on music, and how it helps patients come to terms with their war memories and experiences. The doctor's poetry, another element inspired by her therapeutic sessions, will also be featured on the program.
Photos
New PTSD Clinic uses virtual reality
Dr. Alan Maiers (left), the assistant chief of the Warrior Resiliancy Program at Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, simulates a virtual reality city patrol Aug. 26 for Maj. Monty Baker, the Warrior Resiliancy Program director of research. The virtual reality program is designed to treat servicemembers who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder after returning from combat operations. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Amber Bressler)
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Wilford Hall opens new PTSD Clinic
Posted 9/17/2009 Email story Print story
by Linda Frost
59th Medical Wing Public Affairs
9/17/2009 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) -- Wilford Hall Medical Center has a new clinic to treat patients who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.
The PTSD Clinic offers evidence-based treatments and a virtual reality program to help Airmen returning from combat operations.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder which can occur after a person has been through a traumatic event, according to the National Center for PTSD.
"We want to provide the highest quality care possible for patients experiencing PTSD," said Col. (Dr.) Gerald Talcott, 59th Medical Wing Mental Health Squadron commander.
As part of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic, the PTSD Clinic was created in response to the increasing number of service and family members with PTSD. It is timely in that it coincides with the establishment of the Air Force's new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, a pilot program initiated at eight Air Force bases.
The Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy, using a computer-simulated Virtual Iraq and Virtual Afghanistan, allows Airmen to interact and recreate a traumatic scene and recall sights, sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings.
Still in its preliminary stages, the clinic staff started seeing patients Aug. 3, and is led by Dr. Kellie Crowe, staff psychologist.
"We are very excited about providing evidence-based treat