BELOW THE

SURFACE OF THE

VETERAN MENTAL HEALTH ICEBERG

To locate a clinical mental health professional with experience in the unique needs of military service members, veterans, and their

families, go to the Head Space and Timing blog at www.veteranmentalhealth.com

IT DOESN’T HAVE TO STAY THIS WAY. WORKING WITH A MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL CAN HELP VETERANS

RESOLVE THESE CONCERNS.

Thanks to greater awareness about Veteran Mental Health, many in a veteran’s community are aware of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

and Traumatic Brain Injury, the most commonly know mental health challenges that veterans face

Moral Injury is a description about how a veteran’s core beliefs about what is right

and wrong with the world has been changed by their military experiences

However, there are other post-military challenges that veterans experience that go beyond PTSD and TBI

Many veterans experience a lack of purpose and meaning in their post-military lives, compared to the meaningfulness of their

service

Learned Helplessness is the belief that a veteran cannot change the course of

negative events, that failure is inevitable and there is no sense in even trying

After leaving the service, veterans have to learn new ways to meet needs that were

previously satisfied by service, camaraderie, and self-actualization in the

military

The length and limit of a veteran’s feelings of helplessness is predicted by how permanently, pervasively, and personally they explain the situation to themselves (Abramson et al. 1978)

Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. D. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnor-mal Psychology, 87, 49 –74.

Litz, B. T., Stein, N., Delaney, E., Lebowitz, L., Nash, W. P., Silva, C., & Maguen, S. (2009). Moral injury and moral repair in war veterans: A preliminary model and intervention strategy. Clinical psychology review, 29(8), 695-706.

Southwick, S. M., Gilmartin, R., Mcdonough, P., & Morrissey, P. (2006). Logotherapy as an adjunctive treatment for chronic combat-related PTSD: A meaning-based intervention. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 60(2), 161.

Moral Injury can be defined as “Perpetrating, failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” (Litz, et al., 2009)

PTSD

TBI

Many veterans with PTSD live with profound doubts about the meaning of a life dominated by suffering, guilt and death. This loss of meaning and purpose has pronounced effects on all areas of psychosocial functioning. (Southwick, et al., 2009)

Once a veteran has obtained a sense of achievement and mastery in the military, they then have to pivot to developing mastery in an entirely different arena.