Articles

By Tania Meireles
Wounded Warrior Program        Published February 13, 2012

With February designated as American Heart Health Month, it is a good time of year for everyone, including wounded warriors, to evaluate their heart health.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing National Center for Health Statistics data, reports that heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. The report also states that in 2008 heart disease caused the death of more than 616,000 people and it caused almost 25 percent of all deaths—almost one in every four—in the U.S.

You may think heart disease is just a risk for men in their forties, but heart health should be a top concern for everyone, especially wounded warriors.

By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service
 

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2012 – A new Defense Department website is connecting military children -- whether it’s across town or across the world -- who are dealing with a loved one’s deployment.

The website, Military Kids Connect, offers military children an online community where they can learn about deployments, recognize and share feelings, and develop coping skills.

Psychologists from the DOD’s National Center for Telehealth and Technology developed the site to build on military kids’ strength and resilience, especially as they deal with the unique stressors of military life.

“We felt by connecting military kids with each other, through providing peer-to-peer support, they’d be able to build on the resilience they have already and learn new coping skills to deal with deployments,” explained Kelly Blasko, a psychologist from the center, dubbed T2.
The site features tools for all stages of the deployment cycle -- from predeployment through reintegration.

Posted by Julie Weckerlein on Armed with Science on January 4, 2012
A service member puts on a headset with a screen for each eye. He’s given a joystick that’s built with low-frequency vibrations and sounds, mirroring the vehicle he drove while on the battlefield. As he navigates through the virtual combat world, his head movements are tracked with an orientation system. Pre-fabricated smells mimicking burning rubber and weapons firing are released into the air, and the service member ventures into virtual war.

This is the new Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) being studied by National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury center. T2 is currently researching this therapy, which places service members face-to-face with their unique experiences on the battlefield to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to help service members process memories. Once the study is completed, this unique treatment will be offered to service members and veterans.

Posted by Jayne Davis, DCoE Strategic Communications on December 6, 2011

At the National Center for Telehealth and Technology (T2), a Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury (DCoE) center, psychologists and technology developers work together to create innovative products that help users address psychological health and traumatic brain injury concerns. I asked T2 experts, Dr. Nancy Kao Rhiannon, research psychologist, and Roger Reeder, senior developer for mobile applications, to tell us a little bit about how their collaborative process brings new products to life.

Q: How does the creative process for new products begin? Can it start with either the psychologist or the developer?

Rhiannon: Typically, one of our subject matter experts (SME) shares a concept for a product meant to benefit service members. There’s a lot of interplay between the SME and the developer. While the SME may have the idea and how it can be applied, the developer is the one who actually makes the technology work.

Reeder: I agree. As a developer, I may bring up new technology that could be a relevant solution, but the SME will be the one to look at how we can apply it.

Written on November 30, 2011 by Julie Weckerlein
Technology has dramatically changed our world during the past 20 years, including how we approach psychological health care, and mostly for the better. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to find out about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you could either make an appointment with a psychologist or spend countless hours at a library reading books and professional journals. Now, great information is just a click away.

If you have a smartphone for example, you can instantly download free mobile applications such as the PTSD Coach, and learn about PTSD and ways to help you manage its symptoms. There are apps to track your mood during a period of time and give you and your provider information to help diagnose a possible mood or anxiety disorder. Treatment guidelines to help providers manage patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) are even available on a smartphone. There are lots of good online assessment tools, and although they don’t give a clinical diagnosis of a disorder, they can get you thinking about your well-being and help start a conversation with a mental health care provider if needed.