October 26, 2009
An
innovative support program for servicemen and women and their
families offered at St. John’s University’s Center for
Psychological Services has again received a grant from the New York
State Office of Mental Health.
The
Military Services Initiative, a support program that provides
counseling related to the stresses of deployment free of charge,
was founded in late 2007 at a time when thousands of veterans were
returning to the U.S. from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Richard Morrissey, Ph.D., the Center’s director, many
of those returning from the war zones suffer from “Battlefield
PTSD” (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and are in need of
assessment and therapy.
This second grant comes to St. John’s through New York
State Assemblyman Rory Lancman, a military reservist himself with a
particular interest in supporting veterans, and will help the
Center continue to provide specialized, supportive services to war
veterans and their families in an informed and compassionate way.
Assemblyman Lancman had also obtained the initial grant for the
Center.
Brian Browne, Assistant Vice President of Government Relations at
St. John’s, worked with the assemblyman to secure the $10,000
grant. “The University is grateful that Assembly member Rory
Lancman supports our efforts to expand our community outreach and
service to local veterans,” he says. “The funding he secured will
help the Center for Psychological Services to provide innovative
treatment and can be a model for other treatment programs."
Virtual Reality Equipment Assists Veterans
Dr. Morrissey reports that while a substantial part of the previous
$10,000 grant was used to advertise the Initiative in the Queens
County media, another portion was used to purchase a
state-of-the-art Virtual Reality system already installed at the
Center. “This new grant will help us to offset the costs of the
hardware and software,” which he notes, “was expensive but very
much worth it.”
Veterans suffering from PTSD, Dr. Morrissey explains, tend to avoid
feeling and expressing emotions caused by the trauma they’ve
experienced. They minimize the pain by deliberately erasing or
blotting out the memories but ultimately the memories and
associated feelings remain. “In fact, in trying to avoid the pain,
they are actually perpetuating it.”
The new virtual reality equipment creates a “Virtual Iraq” or
“Virtual Afghanistan” that “helps the traumatized soldier
experience some of the emotions and memories in a carefully graded
fashion.”
The treatment for battlefield PTSD, he explains, is prolonged,
exposure-based therapy that begins with a “trauma narrative” told
by the veteran, a process that takes place over multiple visits.
Then, working with the therapist, the client dons a headset and
becomes immersed in different aspects of a battlefield experience
designed to promote better triggering of memories incurred in real
battlefield situations.
“Over the weeks, we add sound and other sensual stimuli…It’s a nice
mechanism that facilitates the recall in a carefully phased,
adjunctive way to assist them in dealing with those memories and
feelings. Healing occurs in the re-living and re-telling of the
experience.”
To date, four faculty therapists with doctorates in clinical
psychology have volunteered to treat traumatized veterans. These
faculty, in turn, will train and supervise interested graduate
students in these cutting-edge techniques.