BETHESDA, MD — Research rooted in treating trauma in the civilian sector is examining how a combination of pharmaceuticals and virtual reality can help combat veterans recover more swiftly from chronic PTSD.

WASHINGTON — Veterans with PTSD are more likely than others to be prescribed opioids for post-injury pain, and that can lead to an increase in adverse mental and physical effects, according to a recent VA study.

WASHINGTON — According to VA statistics, four out of 10 veterans with mental-health challenges seek assistance from clergy — more than all other types of mental-health providers combined.

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — The term “human performance optimization” (HPO) emerged from a 2006 DoD quadrennial review which identified a need to promote warrior wellness and apply emerging technologies to human performance.

WASHINGTON — Work therapy has been a part of VA rehabilitative programs for decades, but only since 1984 has it been codified under a national clinical initiative. With the return of the latest generation of veterans, who are entering VA care when a more holistic approach to treatment and rehabilitation is taken, compensated work therapy (CWT) has begun to be embraced fervently by veterans and clinicians.

WASHINGTON — Frustrated by the numerous reports of veterans unable to receive timely mental healthcare at VA facilities, legislators have called for the VA Office of the Inspector General to conduct a formal audit of wait times.

BETHESDA, MD — With all of the attention given traumatic brain injury in recent years, it can be easy to forget that this is still a nascent area of medical science. It took six years of fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq for the military leaders to realize the impact TBI — especially the cumulative effects of multiple mild TBI — was having on servicemembers.

WASHINGTON — The partnership between VA and U.S. Paralympics, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) has gotten veterans nationwide involved in adaptive sports as a further step in rehabilitation and to better re-enter society after a grievous physical injury.

WASHINGTON — Poor synchronization between DoD and VA may be leading to a worsening of patient-care coordination. If the two departments do not start working together quickly to solve the issue, it could adversely affect the health of the veterans they are meant to be serving, government investigators warned. 

WASHINGTON — Patrick Doyle, PhD, has spent the last 31 years — the sum of his career as a communication disorder specialist — working with veterans struggling with aphasia. Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder typically caused by stroke, and is more common than Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy, affecting approximately one million Americans.