Combat Trauma, Substance Dependence, and Treatment Providers: Understanding What

We’ll Never Fully Understand

Rodney J.S. Deaton, MD, JDClinical Director, Substance Abuse Treatment Section,

Richard L Roudebush VA Medical CenterAssociate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Indiana

University School of Medicine

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

• “Prescription drug abuse doubled among US military personnel from 2002 to 2005 and almost tripled from 2005 to 2008.”

• “Army soldiers screened 3 to 4 months after returning from deployment to Iraq showed that 27 percent met criteria for alcohol abuse and were at increased risk for related harmful behaviors (e.g., drinking and driving, using illicit drugs).”

• “Drug or alcohol abuse . . . was involved in 30 percent of the Army’s suicide deaths from 2003 to 2009 and in more than 45 percent of non-fatal suicide attempts from 2005 to 2009.”

Goals

• Workable Model for to Use in Individual and Group Settings

• A “Provocative” Encouragement

What Doesn’t Work

• “Silo” Treatment

• “Business as Usual” Trauma Treatment (i.e., Combat Trauma = Other Trauma)

Seeking Safety

• Najavits, Lisa M. Seeking Safety: A Treatment Manual for PTSD and Substance Abuse

• Developing Specific Skills of Emotional Regulation So That More Trauma-Focused Work Can Proceed

Judith Herman’s Model of Trauma Treatment

• Phase of Safety

• Phase of Mourning

• Phase of Re-Connection

The Advantage

• From the beginning, the veteran is urged to see combat PTSD and substance use disorders as inextricably linked

The Recurring Message

• You never need to use substances to cope. There is always a better (in the long run) alternative

Description of Course

• Twenty-Four Related, Yet Independent Units

• Focus on Safety (Strength? Principles?)

• Strong Focus on Case (Self) Management

CAVEATS

Harm Reduction:

Abstinence as Goal, Not as Pre-Requisite

Relapse = Trigger for More Focused Interventions,

NOT Bump-Up of Care Level

“Cookbook Therapy”--and Safety from Emotional Overload

(for both veteran and clinician)

Summary

• Self-Medication Meets Biological Substrate

Issues with Combat Trauma/Military Culture

Do YOU Have What It Takes?

Types of Trauma

• Acts of God

• Acts of Others

• Acts of Self

Volunteers in Time of War:

Honor and Intensity

Love, Rage—and Horrific Excitement

Dare You Look Inward?

Personality and Personality “Disorders”

• Entitlement and the Ubiquity of Shame

• “Posttraumatic Identity”

“Readiness”

• Can Your Prescribers “Hack It”?

• Are You Physically Ready?

• Are You Worthy of Respect? or the Art of Managing the Hysterical

On Street Hustlers, Rebellious Rakes, and Good-Old Country

Boys

Further Resources

• www.seekingsafety.org

• Van Winkle, Clint. Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

• • Johnson, James D. Combat Trauma: A Personal

Look at Long-Term Consequences

• Shay, Jonathan. Achilles in Vietnam.