Download or read book An Exploration of Military Spouse Mental Health written by Sharita Gwen Knobloch and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military spouses (MLSPs) are a vital component of military readiness and resilience, yet they are highly understudied, particularly within the realm of mental health. This study was grounded in resilience theory, investigating relationship interactions between religion/spirituality (R/S) on mental health through resilience (mediator) conditioned at levels of social support, deployment, and rank (moderators). An online survey was distributed via social media, open to MLSPs of all branches and all components (N = 1079). This quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional correlational research design utilized PROCESS Model 58, which found that two R/S subscales, Daily Spiritual Experiences and Religious Coping, exerted indirect effects on all mental health outcomes (depression, anxiety, and stress) through resilience conditioned by the moderators. Other notable findings revealed that MLSPs demonstrated lower magnitudes of actual resilience compared to perceived resilience. Additionally, the preferred area for MLSP social support was “family of origin” followed by “local/surrounding community”; “military programs/resources” and “within the military unit” were ranked lowest. These collective results suggest that current MLSP mental health initiatives are missing the mark. Although MLSPs perceive themselves as highly resilient, the prevalence rates of mental health issues indicate otherwise. Currently, no MLSP mental health initiatives endorse cultivation of R/S to augment resilience with consideration to assessed moderators. Twenty years of the global war on terror has taken a toll on MLSP mental health. New interventions are needed to bolster resilience through R/S practices which will reduce MLSP mental health issues and strengthen America’s military.
Download or read book Counseling Military Families written by Lynn K. Hall and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-04-28 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How does the military really work? What issues are constants for military families, and what special stresses do they face? Counseling Military Families provides the best available overview of military life, including demographic information and examples of military family issues. Chapters focus on vital issues such as the unique circumstances of reservists, career service personnel, spouses, and children, and present treatment models and targeted interventions tailored for use with military families. Counseling Military Families provides clinicians with the tools they need to make a difference in the lives of families in transition, including those who may have an ingrained resistance to asking for help and who may be available for counseling for a relatively short period of time.
Download or read book Milspouse Strength written by Kendra Lowe and published by Elva Resa Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-11 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military spouses: Transform your military life stress into strength! "... a must-read for military spouses ... to learn and understand the circumstances and harm of stress, the outcome and capabilities of the mind, and the tools, questions, and reflections to manage through it all." —Sabina W. Zarlenga, MS, LPCC, NCC, CCTP, Army spouse Do you feel like you are constantly adjusting your life over and over again? As if the underlying stress of your service member's dangerous missions or the lengthy separations during deployments aren't enough. Each new assignment brings another relocation, potential job search, school changes, and more. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and believe that a life of constant stress is the norm for military spouses. But cumulative stress hugely impacts your life! In Milspouse Strength, author Kendra Lowe, a veteran, military spouse, and trained psychologist, helps you understand the impact of both positive and negative stress, healthy ways to respond to stressful situations, and ultimately how to transform your stress into strength. The information, tools, and reflection questions will help you break down the individual stresses that weigh on your mind so you can feel in control of your life right now and develop the skills to change the way you see and respond to military life stress. "Truly outstanding! ... Kendra captures the true essence of being a military spouse: the challenges, the resilience, the stress, and the rewards. She then goes on to give tangible information to deal with the stress successfully." —Robyn Grable, US Navy veteran, military spouse, CEO of Veterans ASCEND Features: • Information about different types of stress • Tools for assessing stress levels and their impact • Stories and perspective from other military spouses • Reflection questions in each chapter Encouraging ~ Informative ~ All Service Branches
Download or read book Military Spouse Journey written by Kathie Hightower and published by Elva Resa Publishing. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Military spouses: Craft your best life possible! "... This great resource is full of practical advice as well as real-world examples that will empower spouses to have a life of their own while supporting their partners in the military lifestyle ..."—Ellie Kay, author, military spouse, and CEO of Heroes at Home The unique components of military life can make it challenging for military spouses to pursue careers and other personal dreams. This encouraging book, written by two experienced military spouses, shares lessons learned, success stories of fellow military spouses, life exploration exercises, and research-based ideas that can be applied to any stage of life's journey. Although this book shares examples specific to military life, the information and approach can be used by anyone to pursue your life dreams. Ready to follow your dreams? This book will help you: • Learn five keys to happiness you can apply every day, anywhere. • Explore your passions, strengths, and goals. • Discover possibilities for the life you want to live. • Create an action plan to move forward, even when you think it’s impossible. • Build valuable friendships and support systems along the way. • Enjoy the journey! First Lady of the Marine Corps Recommended Reading List Midwest Book Awards Silver
Download or read book Mental Health Stigma and Military Spouses written by Lori Hermosillo and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approximately one-third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans develop mental health problems, yet only 35-40% of those with mental disorders are seeking mental healthcare (Hoge, et al., 2004; Vogt, 2011). Military spouses may be an important resource for facilitating treatment seeking (Warner, et al., 2008), especially if service member mental health issues are impacting the marriage. Military spouses might be hesitant to encourage service member help-seeking, however, due to perceived threat of adverse military career consequences. For this study, 62 military wives completed an online survey. As part of the survey, participants were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes containing a description of a hypothetical military husband with mental health symptoms. Each vignette presented different combinations of marital conflict (high versus low) and service member concerns about adverse career consequences (high versus low). Wives rated on a five-point scale how likely they were to encourage the hypothetical military husband to seek help. It was hypothesized that spouses would be more willing to encourage help-seeking when concerns about adverse military career consequences were low and marital distress was high. No main effects or interaction effect were found for marriage and career. Perceived stigma about seeking mental health treatment in the military, psychological identification as a military spouse, and experience and familiarity with military mental healthcare policies failed to moderate the relationship between marital conflict, career concerns, and encouragement of help-seeking. Correlational analyses revealed that (1) greater experience with military mental healthcare (first- or secondhand), and (2) greater perceptions of stigma regarding seeking mental healthcare in the military each were associated with decreased perceptions of military supportiveness of mental healthcare. Therefore, although the experimental manipulation in this study did not lead to differences in military spouses' encouragement of a hypothetical military service member to seek mental health services, other findings based on participants' actual experiences suggest that experiences with military mental healthcare may generate or reinforce negative perceptions of military mental healthcare. Altering actual experiences with military mental healthcare, in addition to perceptions of stigma, may be a useful area of intervention for military service members and spouses.
Download or read book Everyone Serves ePub Standard written by Blue Star Families and published by NBC Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-25 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone Serves is a free eBook designed to help family and friends of service members manage the stresses of deployment and build resilience in ways that are valuable to themselves and their warriors long after the deployment experience is completed. It was created through extensive contributions and review from military experts, service members, military families, and mental health professionals. The following topics are covered: Pre-Deployment Deployment Reunion Reintegration Caregiving This informative handbook also includes useful resources and worksheets to help military families effectively manage the issues discussed in each chapter. Everyone Serves: A Handbook for Family & Friends of Service Members is made possible thanks to the generous support of Blue Star Families and Vulcan Productions, founded by philanthropist Paul G. Allen, in collaboration with ProSocial, a social change agency leveraging media to create public engagement and sustainable impact.
Download or read book War and Family Life written by Shelley MacDermid Wadsworth and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-16 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique resource provides findings and insights regarding the multiple impacts of military duty on service members and veterans, specifically from a family standpoint. Broad areas of coverage include marital and family relationships, parenting issues, family effects of war injuries, and family concerns of single service members. The book's diverse contents highlight understudied populations and topics gaining wider interest while examining the immediate and long-term impact of service on family functioning. In addition to raising awareness of issues, chapters point to potential solutions including science-based pre- and post-deployment programs, more responsive training for practitioners, and more focused research and policy directions. Among the topics covered: • Deployment and divorce: an in-depth analysis by relevant demographic and military characteristics. • Military couples and posttraumatic stress: interpersonally based behaviors and cognitions as mechanisms of individual and couple distress. • Warfare and parent care: armed conflict and the social logic of child and national protection. • Understanding the experiences of women and LGBT veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs care. • Risk and resilience factors in combat military health care providers. • Tangible, instrumental, and emotional support among homeless veterans. War and Family Life offers up-to-date understanding for mental health professionals who serve military families, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Download or read book Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2010-03-31 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly 1.9 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq since October 2001. Many service members and veterans face serious challenges in readjusting to normal life after returning home. This initial book presents findings on the most critical challenges, and lays out the blueprint for the second phase of the study to determine how best to meet the needs of returning troops and their families.
Download or read book Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-10-25 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. military has been continuously engaged in foreign conflicts for over two decades. The strains that these deployments, the associated increases in operational tempo, and the general challenges of military life affect not only service members but also the people who depend on them and who support them as they support the nation â€" their families. Family members provide support to service members while they serve or when they have difficulties; family problems can interfere with the ability of service members to deploy or remain in theater; and family members are central influences on whether members continue to serve. In addition, rising family diversity and complexity will likely increase the difficulty of creating military policies, programs and practices that adequately support families in the performance of military duties. Strengthening the Military Family Readiness System for a Changing American Society examines the challenges and opportunities facing military families and what is known about effective strategies for supporting and protecting military children and families, as well as lessons to be learned from these experiences. This report offers recommendations regarding what is needed to strengthen the support system for military families.
Download or read book Sacred Spaces written by Corie Weathers and published by Elva Resa Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-01 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The vulnerable true story of a journey that changed a military spouse's perspective of deployment, herself, and her military marriage. "Corie shares insights we can bring into our own hearts to see our own relationships with new eyes."—Amy Bushatz, Executive Editor, Military.com "Your heart will break and heal with every turn of the page."—Taya Kyle, New York Times bestselling author of American Wife and executive director of the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation Like many military couples, Corie and her husband, Matt, an Army chaplain, accumulated significant unshared moments during Matt’s deployments. When Matt returned, he and Corie began using the term "sacred spaces" for significant moments they had experienced independently. After multiple deployments, sacred spaces were taking up a lot of emotional room in their relationship. When US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter invited Corie, as the 2015 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year, to join his team on a one-week overseas holiday trip, she eagerly accepted, hoping to gain a better understanding of her husband’s deployment experience and lessen the impact sacred spaces had on her marriage. As Corie sat in the belly of a C-17, where her husband had said goodbye to the remains of friends and fellow soldiers, as she touched with her own hands the memorial at FOB Fenty and reflected on her grief as a care team member following the battle of COP Keating, Corie realized this journey was about much more than the push-pull of duty away from loved ones. This was a journey to the heart of her marriage, a place where she would have to leave behind her resentment in exchange for ground she and her husband had surrendered to hurt, misunderstanding, loss—and to Afghanistan. Corie set out on this trip hoping to gain a better understanding of her husband and his deployment experience, but along the way, she discovered a whole new perspective of herself and her military marriage. By sharing her story, Corie hopes to help other military couples strengthen their marriages. Multiple-Award-Winning Book Living Now Book Awards Gold Medal—Best Relationships/Marriage Book ForeWord INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards finalist Midwest Book Awards Silver Featured on the TODAY Show as Kathie Lee’s "favorite thing."
Download or read book Families Under Fire written by R. Blaine Everson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-01-07 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As provider networks on military bases are overwhelmed with new cases, civilian clinicians are increasingly likely to treat military families. However, these clinicians do not receive the same military mental-healthcare training as providers on military installations, adding strain to clinicians’ workloads and creating gaps in levels of treatment. Families Under Fire fills these gaps with real-world examples, clear, concise prose, and nuts-and-bolts approaches for working with military families utilizing a systems-based practice that is effective regardless of branch of service or the practitioner’s therapeutic preference. Any civilian mental-health practitioner who wants to understand the diverse needs of military personnel, their spouses, and their families will rely on this indispensable guidebook for years to come.
Download or read book The Effects of Deployments on Alcohol Use Stress Mental Health and Help seeking Behaviors in Military Spouses written by Joanne Lorraine Coddington and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom have kept the United States military engaged in one of the longest wars in the nation’s history. Due to the high operations tempo during that time, both service members and their spouses have endured enormous difficulties as they learned to navigate the challenges brought forth by frequent deployments. The purpose of this research study was to study the alcohol consumption, mental health, stress, and help seeking behaviors of military spouses who have endured deployments, with the hypothesis that alcohol use will not increase during deployment, military spouses will report poorer mental health and increased stress during deployment, and military spouses who have endured deployment will utilize appropriate mental health resources. This quantitative study collected data via web-based survey from 293 military spouses from various branches of the military. A chi-square test for independence was used to investigate the categorical variables. Results of the study determined there were statistically significant associations to be found between current deployment and alcohol consumption as well as an association between deployments and stress. Implications and limitations are also discussed, as well as implications for future research.
Download or read book Veteran and Military Mental Health written by Christopher H. Warner and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-23 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses mental health treatment for veterans and active military personnel. In addition to examining foundational practices in the sub-field, it contains specifically tailored content concerning the recent collapse of the United States (US) installed Afghanistan government. The book is conscious of the myriad of complex emotions that veterans who fought for the past twenty years may be experiencing. Organized into four parts, the book begins with the foundations of veteran and military mental health culture as patients transition from active duty to veteran status, understand the present stigma and barriers to care and reflect on their deployment experience. Part two delves into the specifics of the healthcare system in which military personnel find themselves at various points in their career, including deployment and returning home. Following this, chapters examine the critically unique conditions found in patients, such as sleep disorders, traumatic brain injury, homelessness, substance abuse, and sexual trauma. The book closes with discussions on veterans and their families that focus on the effects of deployment on a military person’s loved ones and their mental state upon returning home. Timely, socially conscious, and comprehensive, the Clinical Manual on Veteran and Military Mental Health is an invaluable resource for mental health professionals receiving new military personnel patients and who have seen a significant shift in their patients due to recent events.
Download or read book Risk and Resilience in U S Military Families written by Shelley MacDermid-Wadsworth and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-11-03 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: War related separations challenge military families in many ways. The worry and uncertainty associated with absent family members exacerbates the challenges of personal, social, and economic resources on the home front. U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have sent a million service personnel from the U.S. alone into conflict areas leaving millions of spouses, children and others in stressful circumstances. This is not a new situation for military families, but it has taken a toll of magnified proportions in recent times. In addition, medical advances have prolonged the life of those who might have died of injuries. As a result, more families are caring for those who have experienced amputation, traumatic brain injury, and profound psychological wounds. The Department of Defence has launched unprecedented efforts to support service members and families before, during, and after deployment in all locations of the country as well as in remote locations. Stress in U.S. Military Families brings together an interdisciplinary group of experts from the military to the medical to examine the issues of this critical problem. Its goal is to review the factors that contribute to stress in military families and to point toward strategies and policies that can help. Covering the major topics of parenting, marital functioning, and the stress of medical care, and including a special chapter on single service members, it serves as a comprehensive guide for those who will intervene in these problems and for those undertaking their research.
Download or read book Evaluation of the Department of Veterans Affairs Mental Health Services written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Approximately 4 million U.S. service members took part in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Shortly after troops started returning from their deployments, some active-duty service members and veterans began experiencing mental health problems. Given the stressors associated with war, it is not surprising that some service members developed such mental health conditions as posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance use disorder. Subsequent epidemiologic studies conducted on military and veteran populations that served in the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq provided scientific evidence that those who fought were in fact being diagnosed with mental illnesses and experiencing mental healthâ€"related outcomesâ€"in particular, suicideâ€"at a higher rate than the general population. This report provides a comprehensive assessment of the quality, capacity, and access to mental health care services for veterans who served in the Armed Forces in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn. It includes an analysis of not only the quality and capacity of mental health care services within the Department of Veterans Affairs, but also barriers faced by patients in utilizing those services.
Download or read book Healing Stress in Military Families written by Lorie T. DeCarvalho and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-03-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eight practical steps to help military families through the unique issues they face When service members return, it's up to their families to try to soften their re-entry into civilian life. Healing Stress in Military Families offers practical help for military families coping with the myriad repercussions of their loved ones' duties, from their deployment to their return home. Based on the latest scientific research and best practice guidelines as well as the authors' experience treating veterans and their families Healing Stress in Military Families offers answers for the stress that comes not only from war, but also from other related issues, including deployment and redeployment, relocation, and reunion. Healing Stress in Military Families provides: Evidence-based advice for clinicians helping military families with adjustment problems by facilitating communication, reconnection, and growth "Making It Real" exercises for clinicians to employ with families in sessions "Talking Points" that explore how to guide the family in their healing process Homework handouts and between-session "Taking Action" exercises for families that reinforce and build on skills and information introduced in sessions Compassionately written with the military family at heart, Healing Stress in Military Families provides the information, tools, and skills that will empower these courageous families to more easily heal and become stronger and more resilient as they go through life. "This practical workbook will help others understand the highly complex factors that cause dysfunction within military families. Using a clear format that avoids jargon, providers and families can work through the eight practical steps that focus on reconnecting the family and improving resiliency. This excellent book will surely become core material for anyone interested in working with military families." Bradford Felker, MD, Director, Mental Health Primary Care Service, VA Puget Sound Health Care System and Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Washington School of Medicine "Healing Stress in Military Families: Eight Steps to Wellness is a timely, practical publication that recognizes and addresses the impact of traumatic stress on countless 'hidden victims,' our military families. The focus on empowerment and goal-directedness versus illness, disorder and dysfunction is so needed today." Mark D. Lerner, PhD, President, American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
Download or read book Wake Up Kick Ass Repeat written by Kendra Lowe and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-31 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The path Dr. Kendra Lowe has walked as a cadet at the Air Force Academy as an active duty service member, and now as a military spouse, has given her a front-row seat to many of the traumas, setbacks, successes, discriminations, and celebrations that military families experience. These experiences fueled ten years of research aimed at better understanding military spouse stress and how bad the stress really is, as well as the unique contributing factors of the military lifestyle. Most significant were the findings that 27 percent of military spouses report significantly high levels of stress, while 20 percent have a higher, clinically significant, level of stress. In other words, approximately one in four military spouses wake up every day under a heavy layer of stress that builds day by day, week by week, and year by year. Unfortunately, many military spouses perceive this stress as normal, unaware of how dangerously close they are to clinically significant levels of emotional, social, or physical distress. Wake up, Kick Ass, Repeat was created to help alleviate these significant concerns. This comprehensive and invaluable tool will help you accept the unique nature of military life, anticipate and persevere in the face of social-emotional setbacks, practice effective coping strategies, and learn to thrive on to new possibilities. Dr. Kendra has expertly woven research, personal anecdotes, powerful stories from other military spouses, as well as practical principals of Rational Behavioral Therapy to help individuals work through stressful situations while maintaining better emotional control. This is a must-have book for military and first responder spouses, their family members, professionals working with military and first responder families, as well as anyone seeking to find a way to help themselves to better social and emotional health. Dr. Kendra also includes thoughtful questions and exercises that any individual or group can put to immediate use.
