Accurate Diagnosis and Treatment of PTSD Crucial for Members of Military
WHAT:
Reports of post-traumatic stress disorder among members of the U.S. military are raising questions about how this psychological disorder is diagnosed and treated. Psychologists can help explain how someone is diagnosed with PTSD and how service members are particularly affected by combat. They can also discuss how PTSD can pose serious mental health issues for service members, veterans and their families. The following experts are available for interviews on this topic.
WHO:
Charles Figley, PhD, director, Tulane Traumatology Institute, New Orleans. Dr. Figley is an internationally renowned expert in disaster-related mental health and combat stress injury. He is one of the leading academics on disasters and trauma in general.
Walter Penk, PhD, ABPP, professor, Texas A&M Health Sciences Center College of Medicine. Dr. Penk’s career in the Department of Veterans Affairs has focused on providing clinical services and conducting health services research integrating clinical interventions into psychosocial rehabilitation for combat veterans with PTSD, depression, addictions, traumatic brain injury and other combat-related physical and mental disorders.
Barbara Van Dahlen, PhD, founder and president, Give an Hour, a national network of mental health professionals who are providing free services to U.S. troops, veterans and their loved ones. Dr. Van Dahlen is a licensed clinical psychologist who has been practicing in the Washington, D.C., area for 20 years, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children. **To set up interviews with Dr. Van Dahlen please contact Lauren Itzkowitz**
Daniel S. Weiss, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Weiss studies PTSD in veterans and emergency services personnel. He is editor in chief of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, a publication of the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies. He is also a co-investigator of the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, a definitive national study of PTSD and other deployment-related adjustment problems of the Vietnam veteran population.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 154,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.
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