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The invisible wounds of war: caring for women veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma.

The invisible wounds of war: caring for women veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma.

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The invisible wounds of war: caring for women veterans who have experienced military sexual trauma.

J Am Assoc Nurse Pract. 2014 Jul;26(7):364-9

Authors: Rossiter AG, Smith S

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this case study is to raise awareness about military sexual trauma (MST) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the physical and psychological comorbidities associated with MST.

DATA SOURCES: Health Science Data Sources-PubMed and authors’ experiences.

CONCLUSIONS: Women veterans are the fastest growing segment of the veteran population. Approximately 200,000 of the 2.6 million veterans who have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn (OEF/OIF/OND) are women. Many are seeking care in both the Veteran Administration and the civilian sector. It is estimated that upwards of 26,000 women have experienced some form of sexual assault in the military. MST can lead to multiple deleterious physical and psychological comorbidities. It is imperative that nurse practitioners (NPs) ask women about military service and utilize the Military Health History Pocket Card for Clinicians to ascertain service-connected health risks, primarily MST and PTSD. Prompt identification and intervention is key to reducing physical and psychological comorbidities.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This case study emphasizes the need for NPs to ask all women about military service and potential exposure to sexual trauma. It provides guidance on how to incorporate the Military Health History Pocket Card for Clinicians into practice.

PMID: 24574023 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

Treating posttraumatic stress disorder with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy: A preliminary meta-analysis and comparison to prolonged exposure therapy.

Treating posttraumatic stress disorder with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy: A preliminary meta-analysis and comparison to prolonged exposure therapy.

Treating posttraumatic stress disorder with MDMA-assisted psychotherapy: A preliminary meta-analysis and comparison to prolonged exposure therapy.

J Psychopharmacol. 2016 Apr 26;

Authors: Amoroso T, Workman M

Abstract

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become a major area of research and development. The most widely accepted treatment for PTSD is prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, but for many patients it is intolerable or ineffective. ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) has recently re-emerged as a new treatment option, with two clinical trials having been published and both producing promising results. However, these results have yet to be compared to existing treatments. The present paper seeks to bridge this gap in the literature. Often the statistical significance of clinical trials is overemphasized, while the magnitude of the treatment effects is overlooked. The current meta-analysis aims to provide a comparison of the cumulative effect size of the MDMA-AP studies with those of PE. Effect sizes were calculated for primary and secondary outcome measures in the MDMA-AP clinical trials and compared to those of a meta-analysis including several PE clinical trials. It was found that MDMA-AP had larger effect sizes in both clinician-observed outcomes than PE did (Hedges’ g=1.17 vs. g=1.08, respectively) and patient self-report outcomes (Hedges’ g=0.87 vs. g=0.77, respectively). The dropout rates of PE and MDMA-AP were also compared, revealing that MDMA-AP had a considerably lower percentage of patients dropping out than PE did. These results suggest that MDMA-AP offers a promising treatment for PTSD.

PMID: 27118529 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]