WOMEN VETERANS WITH PSTD

Utilization of Women's Group in the Treatment of Women Veterans with PTSD in Military- Based Programs

Utilization of Women's Group in the Treatment of Women Veterans with PTSD in Military- Based Programs

Introduction

With increasing numbers of women in a military, are were corresponding changes in a composition of a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) patients. Women veterans currently make up about 5.5% of patients in VHA facilities and are one of a fastest growing groups of patients within VHA. In response to ase changes, more emphasis on women veterans' health care and use was down.

Since a representation of women in a military continues to grow, ay are increasingly at risk for various types of trauma exposure during military service, including sexual violence and poverty. Although studies have shown that women, trauma are likely to use health services, particularly mental health, compared with men who survived an injury 3, 4, a vast majority of patients who receive care at VHA facilities men. Since a primary patient population of VHA was used to military veterans are, a negative experiences that occur in a military negative memories and discomfort in a VHA setting for some women, veterans, help for a poor performance of a health conditions VHA than oar objects. 5.6 It is arefore important to understand how a military trauma, including military combat sexual violence and exposure, women veterans use and presentation services impact on VHA.

Discussion

Research with combat women veterans and their families from different countries and prior eras has long documented the strong association between PTSD and family relationship problems. These studies consistently reveal that women veterans diagnosed with chronic PTSD, compared with those exposed to military-related trauma but not diagnosed with the disorder, and their romantic partners report more numerous and severe relationship problems and generally poorer family adjustment. Veteran womens with PTSD also have been shown to divorce at higher rates than do their trauma-exposed counterparts without PTSD (e.g., [Cook et al., 2004] and [Jordan et al., 1992]). Women veterans with chronic PTSD have also been found to be less self-disclosing and emotionally expressive with their partners (Carroll, Rueger, Foy, & Donahoe, 1985) and to have greater anxiety related to intimacy (Riggs, Byrne, Weathers, & Litz, 1998), as compared with women veterans without PTSD.

The extant research from women veterans and their family members indicates that individual posttraumatic stress symptomatology largely accounts for the harmful effects of war-zone stress exposure on family functioning, at least in women veterans ([Gimbel and Booth, 1994] and [Orcutt et al., 2003]). A recent longitudinal study that included both women and women Gulf War I veterans contributed important methodological advancements and findings regarding possible gender differences in the role of PTSD symptoms and trauma exposure in family adjustment problems. However, there was furthermore evidence of a direct contradictory effect of battle exposure on family change in supplement to PTSD symptoms for women, proposing that PTSD symptoms may not fully interpret the deleterious aspects of war-zone stressor exposure on family change difficulties for women ...