What’s the impact of multiple deployments and repeated traumatic stressors on service members? Why are a significant number of military personnel experiencing psychological injuries following their deployments? What treatment options are available? What’s being done to help advance the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and psychological health?

If these questions are on your mind, consider reading the special edition of “Military Medicine.” Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) subject matter experts and others share updated research to better understand current psychological health and TBI conditions affecting the health, occupational and personal functioning of service members and veterans. Published by The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS), the journal identifies effective screening tools, diagnostic technologies and treatments for major areas of concern like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance use disorder and TBI.

Dr. James Bender is a former Army psychologist who deployed to Iraq as the brigade psychologist for the 1st Cavalry Division 4th Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Hood, Texas. During his deployment, he traveled through Southern Iraq, from Basra to Baghdad. He writes a monthly post for the DCoE Blog on psychological health concerns related to deployment and being in the military.

When most people hear the words “psychologist,” “mental health” or “shrink,” they think “mental illness.” After all, why should you talk to those guys unless you have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression? It’s unfortunate that some people think that way, because in addition to helping with serious conditions like PTSD and depression, behavioral health specialists can offer much more. A big part of psychology concerns itself with improving physical performance.

	U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Barry Loo

This blog post was written by Dr. Shelley Carson, a psychologist with the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center. For more blog posts written by subject matter experts at T2, visit the ‘blog section’ of afterdeployment.org.

Most everyone has experienced the blues: a few days now and then when you feel mopey, sad, a little off your game, or just tired of it all. This is part of the normal ebb and flow of emotions. Life has its ups and downs. However, when these “off” periods begin to string together for a month or longer, you may have more than just the blues: you may be almost depressed. This is not a “clinical” level of depression, but it’s more than a period of the blues that you can’t just snap out of.

	U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nathan Thome

Many service members and veterans experiencing symptoms of depression will receive most or all of their care through their primary care physician. If you’re a primary care provider and unfamiliar with the “Major Depressive Disorder Toolkit,” it’s important you download it or request a hard copy today.

Developed by Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE), U.S. Army Medical Command and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the tool kit provides clear, comprehensive descriptions of critical decision points that help providers screen for major depressive disorder (MDD). The tool kit guides diagnosis, management of symptoms and referral of patients to mental health specialists.

	Positive Activity Jackpot mobile app

The newest mobile application from National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) encourages you to get moving.

Designed for those experiencing post-combat stress, “Positive Activity Jackpot,” available for Android systems, helps users creatively plan fun activities using “pleasant events scheduling,” a behavioral health therapy used to help regulate emotions and cope with stress.

“If you have enough positive events in your week, you’re just going to feel better,” said Dr. Amanda Edwards Stewart, T2 clinical psychologist. “With this therapy, we say ‘what can you do today to make yourself feel better?’ and go through a list [of activities]. The cool thing about a mobile app is that your phone has so much more functionality than sitting with a clinician.”

The app offers many ways to find activities in your community using the phone’s GPS navigation feature. Users can use a step-by-step search function to choose an activity based on its distance, cost or one that just suits their current mood. They can also search through the app’s “Jackpot!” game-like feature where users can pull a lever on a slot-machine screen to flip through a random list of local activities in their area found by the GPS.