ROCHESTER, MN — With sweeping new initiatives from the White House and elsewhere in response to the burgeoning military suicide rate, little guidance has been offered to the clinicians in the trenches who are best positioned to recognize and prevent such drastic actions.

FORT DETRICK, MD — In the wake of a memo from Assistant Secretary of Defense Jonathan Woodson, MD, expressing concern about potential over-prescription of antipsychotic drugs for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, the Army and VA have launched an interagency research program to evaluate the effectiveness of several other medications to treat common PTSD symptoms.

SAN ANTONIO — Can cytokines, the signaling proteins secreted by immune system cells, offer a way to prevent development of schizophrenia in susceptible individuals or keep psychosis from occurring in veterans with the disorder?

BALTIMORE-- For many veterans with schizophrenia, deficits in social skills commonly associated with the disorder can make maintaining relationships and achieving personal goals extremely challenging. The VA’s Social Skills Training (SST) program helps these veterans acquire the skills they need to effectively engage in social interactions, set and reach goals and take critical steps on the road to recovery.

Cardiovascular disease risk factors often are comorbid with serious mental illnesses (SMI) such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder, yet these patients often don’t receive necessary care for those chronic conditions.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) accounts for 22% of total casualties in the current conflicts and 59% of the injuries where servicemembers are exposed to blasts. That makes research on the relationship between TBI and dementia later in life especially critical for the future of the VHA.

The number of veterans treated at the VA for bipolar disorder increased more than 37% in an eight-year period. Clinicians are challenged both by the rapid increase in cases and the high side-effect profile of lithium, the first-line treatment for the disorder.

For years, researchers have been working to discover which cellular processes allow humans to learn and store memories, and how these processes are compromised by diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. Researchers at NIH say they believe they have uncovered one piece to this puzzle.

Suicide among veterans has grabbed its fair share of headlines in recent weeks. Much of the focus has been on VA’s difficulty in providing timely care, especially to veterans returning from deployment with PTSD, TBI or other neuropsychological conditions.

WASHINGTON — Mental health providers interviewed every single member of a 900-plus member Marine battalion that had sustained heavy losses in Afghanistan, as part of their reintegration upon return from deployment.