Supporting veteran health
The AMA is committed to connecting physicians with information, tools and training materials to help assess and treat our nation’s veterans and their families.
The AMA is currently working with the administration on its Joining Forces Initiative. This national initiative seeks to mobilize all sectors of society to ensure service members and their families get the opportunities and support they have earned.
The AMA is supportive of educating physicians and other health professionals to make sure veterans get the care they need. Below is a compilation of links from AMA medical journals, and governmental and professional organizations on common health issues that affect veterans and their families—particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-combat depression.
If your organization has information you believe should be included on this page, please contact us.
Top veteran resource sites: Information and tools for providers
JAMA articles
Community-Implemented Trauma Therapy for Former Child Soldiers in Northern Uganda
Integrating Tobacco Cessation Into Mental Health Care for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Rates of Major Depressive Disorder and Clinical Outcomes Following Traumatic Brain Injury
Archives of General Psychiatry articles
Prevention of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder by Early Treatment
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Risk of Dementia Among US Veterans
Preinjury Psychiatric Status, Injury Severity, and Postdeployment Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Long-term Outcomes of Disability Benefits in US Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Psychiatric Diagnoses and Risk of Suicide in Veterans
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine articles
Deployment and Mental Health Diagnoses Among Children of US Army Personnel
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) is the leading national professional medical association dedicated to treating and improving the quality of life for children, adolescents, and families affected by these disorders.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers information to pediatricians and families on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), post combat depression and deployments as they relate to the care of children and families.
On the AAP Military Youth Deployment Support Video, pediatricians and other health care providers who care for children can learn to support military youth, which includes education on PTSD.
The video includes information on
- Working to understand military youth culture
- Screening for deployment stress in youth
- Providing resources such as prevention and support
- Recognizing and responding
AAP Pediatrics Review and Education (PREP) Audio CD on The Effect of Deployment on Children
AAP Partners with Joining Forces on Tobacco Prevention and Second Hand Smoke Initiatives
AAP Mental Health Toolkit chapter on Caring for America’s Children: Military Youth in Time of War
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine articles
Deployment and Mental Health Diagnoses Among Children of US Army Personnel
The American Psychiatric Association promote the highest quality care for individuals with mental disorders and their families; promote psychiatric education and research; advance and represent the profession of psychiatry; and serve the professional needs of its membership. A medical specialty society the APA is the world’s largest psychiatric organization, representing more than 38,000 psychiatric physicians from the United States and around the world. The APA addresses the mental health and well-being of military families through public education, research, education/lifelong learning, and practice guidelines.
APA’s Military and Veteran Issues main page
Education
Self-assessment tools. A recent issue of Focus, APA’s journal of lifelong learning, was devoted entirely to PTSD. This issue included PTSD-specific Performance-in-Practice (PiP) self-assessment tools, designed to help clinicians determine whether evidence-based care, consistent with the most recent Practice Guideline, is being provided for patients suffering from PTSD. Other relevant PiP tools cover depression, substance abuse, and suicide.
Practice Guidelines
Public Education
Support and Resources. The APA’s home page features a link to an extensive list of health resources for military, veterans, and families on issues ranging from finding a local mental health practitioner to understanding DoD and VA benefits.
Healthy Minds. The APA’s subsidiary, the American Psychiatric Foundation (APF) supports the Healthy Minds PBS series produced by WNET & WLIW TV. A program entitled “PTSD: Helping our Troops” was nominated for an Emmy in 2010. Three 2012 episodes will focus on military mental health issues and will feature a compelling dialogue with Admiral Mullen, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mrs. Mullen. Healthy Minds reaches over 60 percent of U.S. TV households.
Community Blueprint. APF is also partnering with Give an Hour to support the Community Blueprint Network. This new initiative is aimed at promoting and improving services for military members and their families through community collaboration.
The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) is a professional society representing close to 3,000 physicians dedicated to increasing access and improving quality of addiction treatment, educating physicians and the public, supporting research and prevention, and promoting the appropriate role of physicians in the care of patients with addictions.
ASAM Live Learning Center: An online portal to educational content
The Center for Deployment Psychology trains military and civilian behavioral health professionals to provide high-quality deployment related behavioral health services to military personnel and their families.
Articles on deployment spectrum issues and related disorders
Educational training geared towards behavioral health providers who treat service members
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) was established to address US Department of Defense concerns around the psychological impact and health consequences resulting from the impact of traumatic events, to include weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and natural disasters.
The center’s work addresses a wide scope of trauma exposure from the consequences of combat, operations other than war, terrorism, natural and humanmade disasters, and public health threats. CSTS is a part of the nation’s federal medical school, Uniformed Services University, and its Department of Psychiatry, as well as a partnering center of the newly established Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury.
CSTS podcast series: “Essentials for those who care for military children and families”
Defense Centers for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury
The Defense Centers for Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury provides information and resources on traumatic brain injury, psychological health issues, and combat stress specifically tailored to health care professionals. Here you can learn about treatment options for PTSD and review tips for civilian health care professionals treating military patients.
The mission of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center (DVBIC) is to serve active duty military, their beneficiaries, and veterans with traumatic brain injuries through state-of-the-art clinical care, innovative clinical research initiatives and educational programs.
The Deployment Health Clinical Center (DHCC) website is designed to assist busy clinicians in the delivery of post-deployment healthcare. It represents a comprehensive source of deployment-related health information for both healthcare providers and service members, veterans, and family members.
DoD/VA Post-Deployment Health Clinical Practice Guidelines—developed to assist primary care clinicians in evaluating and managing individuals seeking care for potentially deployment-related health concerns and conditions.
Clinical tools, educational resources, patient education materials
Web-based training for clinicians
Deployment Health News, an online newsletter published each business day that draws from publicly available sources to provide articles on health issues related to military service, deployments, and homeland security.
A page dedicated to physician and patient resources on PTSD, including a screening tool for physicians to use with their patients.
The Massachusetts General Home Base Program, in collaboration with the Veteran Administration’s National Center for PTSD, is providing this free, CME-certified educational series to assist clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of the silent wounds of war in returning veterans and their families. This live, on-line, interactive educational series is led by nationally recognized faculty with expertise in diagnosing and treating PTSD and TBI with traditional and complementary evidence-based therapy. The faculty will also address the needs of military families and review how to recognize and treat the emotional stress present in spouses, parents, and children of veterans with PTSD or TBI.
From the War Zone to the Home Front: Supporting the Mental Health of Veterans and Families
Includes lectures on:
- The challenges of coming home after war: What providers need to know
- Reintegration issues from the Veterans perspective: overcoming the stigma of seeking help
- Recognizing PTSD and co-morbidities
- Impact of combat-related injury, illness and death on military children and families
- Traumatic brain injury
This continuing education resource was developed by Medscape Education in support of Joining Forces. Through original education programming and links to existing resources, Medscape aims to improve clinicians' awareness of the health care challenges faced by service members and veterans and their families and to improve clinicians' capacity to screen, diagnose, treat, and refer appropriately for these conditions.
Medscape CME/CE opportunities (Medscape log-in and password required)
The National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2) seeks to identify, treat, and minimize or eliminate the short and long-term adverse effects of TBI and other mental health conditions associated with military service. T2 partners with the Department of Veterans Affairs and other organizations throughout the world.
Working together, teams of psychologists and technology developers promote resilience, recovery and reintegration so that service members and their families can thrive in their community of choice. T2 is a component center of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and part of the Military Health System.
The North Carolina Medical Society partnered with the Medical University of South Carolina to conduct a web-based survey of rural and urban mental health and primary care community providers.
The mission of National Center for PTSD is to advance the clinical care and social welfare of America's veterans through research, education, and training in the science, diagnosis, and treatment of PTSD and stress-related disorders. The centers' professional website section contains training materials for health care providers, as well as information and tools to help providers with assessment and treatment.
Professional Section: Information on Trauma and PSTD for providers and researchers
Provider training and education
PTSD Screening and Referral for Healthcare Providers
Understanding traumatic brain injury
Educational programs
Understanding Military Culture: Contains free CME
